Capture This
by majic91
Summary: After her foster parents die Rose must temporarily leave her friends, and beloved Mason behind in PA. But after an unexpected trip, she finds herself working in a promiscuous profession, and meeting some very 'interesting people'. All human. M for lemons
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

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><p>I was awaken suddenly when I felt the train car make one large surge forward. It was enough to wake me from my slumber and practically fall into the lap of the elderly woman sitting in front of me. She gave me a concerned look and I scowled at her slightly. I hated being woken up, especially if I was having such a wonderful dream.<p>

_"MASON! STOP, PLEASEEE!" I whined as his fingers continued to claw playfully at my stomach, which he obviously knew was my most ticklish spot._

_"Not until you tell me you love me again." He smirked, revealing his perfectly straight white teeth. They practically illuminated his entire face, and really accentuated his other wonderful features._

_"Oh come on! I've only told you that AT LEAST thirty times today. Someone must be in serious dire need for affection." We laughed together for a while, simply just enjoying each other's company._

It was moments like these when I could really be content with my life, despite it's many downfalls.I may look like I have it all together, to anyone who didn't actually know me. I went to high school like any normal seventeen, (soon to be eighteen) year old. I had a small group of friends that stuck around, and a wonderful boyfriend who meant the world to me. But to everyone's surprise (when they found out of course) I didn't have the one thing that many, or should I say most people have, a real family.

My mother and father put me into foster care when I was a little under two years old. Apparently they couldn't take care of me anymore, so they threw me into the arms of the first, desperate, child-hungry foster home they could. I don't remember much since I was so young, but as I got older I was placed into more families than I can count on both hands. And finally after thirteen years, the system finally got it right. Or so I thought.

Don't get me wrong, the Hendricks's family was about ten billion steps up from any other family I've been placed with before. But for some reason they kept finding different excuses to adopt more brats into the household, leaving me to watch them as if they were my own. Ew.

Which is why I held moments like that with Mason so close to my heart. He didn't see me as the rebellious, loner, foster kid always getting into trouble. He saw me for who I really was, and accepted me for it. And I couldn't be more grateful. He had been my savior since I was fifteen, and after spending so much time together, I had no doubt in my mind that he would be the one I would spend the rest of my life with.

That was, until I received a phone call less than three days ago from Palmerton Hospital. Rick and Denise Hendricks had been in a horrible car accident, and their chances of surviving were slim. They informed me that I should come down to the hospital and prepare my goodbyes.

As I sat in the crowded office of the social worker who dealt with my family problems, I couldn't help but overhear all the plans that were being arranged for me. Since I was still a minor, I would have to be shipped off to another family, in another location. A location that was far away from my Mason. I felt the hot tears well up in my eyes, as I finally figured out what I had to do.

I was going to run away. I wasn't sure where I was going yet, but I knew that's what I had to do. I was almost eighteen, so I thought maybe if I could stay away until then, I could come back, enroll myself back into school, and everything would work itself out. I wouldn't tell anyone my plan, not even Mason. My birthday was in less than two weeks, I figured I could avoid everyone at all costs until then.

And that my friends, is how the next chapter of my life has begun.

I snapped out of the trance I was in as I noticed everyone around me exiting the train. I grabbed what little belongs I had, and headed towards the platform. I had been many places in my life time, but I can guarantee with the utmost certainty that this had to be one of the most beautiful buildings I had ever seen. Grand Central Station.

Yep, that's right. I, Rose Hathaway, have run away to the wonderful New York.

I marveled at it's inner beauty. The high ceilings, broad columns and crowds of people were absolutely mesmerizing. I let out a sigh of relief as I continued to take in the rest my surroundings.

"Now that I'm here, what to do now…?" I thought to myself. I figured the most logical decision would be to ask for directions and find some place to stay. After all, that train ride had taken nine hours and nighttime was quickly approaching. I decided on asking a middle-aged woman working behind the ticket counter. She seemed like the safest bet. I had only been in New York five minutes, there was no way I was about to let anyone creep on me and ruin my experience already.

The outside of Grand Central Station was almost just as beautiful as the inside. I couldn't take my eyes off of the building as I stood by the side of the street, attempting to flag down a taxi.

And let me start off by saying, hunting down a taxi in New York is NOTHING like they make it out to be in movies. It took me at least five tries, and almost getting ran over in the process, to get a taxi to pull over. The task was actually quite strenuous. In the movies, a pretty girl can barely wave her hand and ten taxis will magically line up to escort her to her wildest destinations. Damn Hollywood. Always ruining people's perceptions of real life situations.

Approximately ten minutes later I ended up at some place called the Mayor Hotel. It sounded decent, had okay prices, and was in a semi-normal looking area, so I graciously paid the taxi driver with some of the money that I had saved up over the years from mowing old lady Winifred's lawn every week.

As I entered the room I cringed a little inside, and instantly wished I was back at the train station already. I soon pushed away my bitter thoughts and began to look at things more realistically. I was now a runaway, which meant giving up luxury for the time being and embracing my inner grossness.

**Okay, so I know that I started off this chapter relatively slow. I wanted to set the stage for the story a little bit and give people some background, as well as what was happening in the story currently. I promise you, it will get better!**

**I have a tiny idea of where I want this to go, so please review and tell me what you think so far! Any feedback is fine, I won't get mad, I promise :P Try not to be too mean though because I am fairly new at this! xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

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><p>I woke up early the next morning and felt like my body had been replaced with someone's who was at least three times my age. Muscles I didn't even know existed ached, and I had an overall feeling of discomfort from deep within my bones. This hotel definitely needed to upgrade its mattresses.<p>

I shrugged it off and figured it was nothing that a long, hot shower couldn't fix. While undressing I stood in the mirror and starred at my reflection. The thought 'I can't believe I'm actually doing this' couldn't help but cross my mind. I instantly began worrying about how things were back in Pennsylvania.

Sure, the other children my foster parents adopted could get annoying sometimes. But the more I thought about it, the worse I felt. I was practically their adult figure while Denise and Rick weren't around. I was all that they had left. And I had deserted them. Granted, the court would have never let me have full custody over them, considering I was still considered 'a child' myself, I still felt bad knowing they could be stuck with someone who didn't truly have their best interests at heart. Plus, I probably wouldn't have been able to handle all of them anyway. I wasn't even sure I wanted kids. 'Why am I still thinking about this?' I wondered.

As I got in the shower, I instantly felt better. The hot water and steam seemed to soothe and relax me as my thoughts suddenly shifted to Mason. I was wondering how he was holding up. The last conversation we had was about four days ago…

_"You know I will ALWAYS be here for you, right Rosemarie?" Mason looked down at me sympathetically as he brushed the hair out of my face with his hand and gently caressed his thumb against the side of my cheek. His touch always felt good, and he always seemed to know how to make me feel better. I guess that's what happens when you're around someone so much, and are always going through tough situations together._

_"I know Mase." I replied half-heartedly. I was still torn up about my foster parents, and now my plan of running away was beginning to weigh on me. I felt horrible doing this to him, of all people, the one person who was there for me one hundred percent of the time._

_"You'll get through this, you're the strongest person I know." Mason pulled me in close, and kissed my forehead. His warm embrace brought tears to my eyes. I knew I had to get myself out of this situation before I spilled the beans, or decided against my plan entirely. I hated lying to him, but I knew this would benefit us both in the end._

_I pulled away from him and gave him a small smile. "I love you. Please never forget that, okay?"_

_"I won't Rose, you know that. And stop making it seem like something is going to happen to you." He laughed and looked down at me adoringly. "I won't let anything happen to you."_

_"You better not! I only like getting into trouble if it involves you, if you catch my drift…" I winked at him and gave him a devilish grin. My attempt to lighten the mood must have worked, because we then continued to make out for a while._

_After he pulled away, I kissed him again lightly. Letting my lips linger on his a little longer than he probably expected, because I knew it would be a while before I had any physical contact with him, or anybody else. I would certainly miss that…_

My daydream must have been a lot longer than I expected because the shower water was now starting to turn cold. Either that, or the hotel just had a really tiny hot water tank. I quickly rinsed down my body one final time, making sure to get all the soap off before I turned into an ice cube.

I eventually dressed myself in a black v-neck, dark skinny jeans and plain black flip-flops and gave myself a quick glance in the mirror. I thought I looked pretty decent. I then decided to straighten my dark, naturally wavy hair and add a little make-up. Today I would go job hunting and I wanted to make a good first impression on all my future employers.

I really didn't have any idea of where to start applying, so I decided that I would walk around the city until I found different places I liked.

Pennsylvania was nowhere comparable to New York. On top of the fact that it was HUGE, it also had people everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. Crowds of people flooded the streets, to talk, to stop and haggle with vendors, to buy food off of the many carts that lined the sidewalks. I really think New York had it all and I was truly in love with this place I already.

The first place I decided to put in an application at was a small diner that was cornered by two very large buildings. It looked almost as if it were something that was ran by a family, and passed down from generation to generation. I had a sudden longing to be part of a family again after just losing mine, so I made my way into the restaurant. I could immediately tell (as if the sign hadn't given it away already) that my suspicions were right. This was indeed a family restaurant, and an Italian one at that. With a name like Giovanni's, how could it not be Italian? The air smelled of delicious pizzas, cheeses and pasta, and my stomach suddenly rumbled, announcing that it was indeed hungry. I sat down in one of the small booths and was immediately approached by a young girl who couldn't have been much older than me. She greeted me and I kindly asked her for an application as well as a personal pan pizza, with extra cheese and pepperoni. Yummy!

I savored every bite of that pizza, and took extra care when handling the application. I made sure not to get any grease on it, because I'm sure that's not exactly a good way to leave an impression. Just after paying my bill, I casually walked up to the guy at the front of the restaurant (I assumed he was the manager) and I was mentally planning the small talk I would start the conversation with in attempt to win him over. A petite blonde, who had apparently the same idea in mind, then cut me off and beat me to the punches.

After listening to their twenty-minute conversation, I not only felt dumber, but I was also twenty minutes behind in the rest of my job search. I then proceeded to hand the guy my interview, and was about to lay down the moves on him when he stopped me before I could speak and informed me that he had just given the girl before me the last open position. Of fucking course.

I sulked as I slowly made my way out of the restaurant, and continued my walk around the city. I applied at every cute boutique and diner I came across, and I was still jobless. I was beginning to lose all hope, and after many hours of the same tedious questions and applications I decided I would have to postpone this search until tomorrow. However, before going back to the hotel, I would do some grocery shopping so I could prepare my own food in the room. Instead of eating out every night and most likely gaining twenty pounds in the next month.

I asked a man who looked sincere enough to help me where the closest organic market was, and he thankfully pointed me in the right direction. I made it there quickly and efficiently, and maneuvered my way around the store effortlessly. I got a bunch of fresh fruit, vegetables and things like dried fruits and nuts, which wouldn't perish and would last me a while.

Just as I was about to head for the check out a mysterious looking man approached me with a creepy grin and before I had a chance to run away his eerie voice said something along the lines of "You don't look like you're from around here, sugar." And he slipped a business card into my basket and he was gone.

**I hope this chapter was a bit better than the last! I wanted to give you guys two chapters at once because I feel like the first one wasn't enough to keep you interested. The ending of this chapter will certainly lead into the main part of the story, so keep reading! And leave feedback of course! xoxo**


	3. Chapter 3

I stood there, baffled, with most likely a very strange look on my face. 'Who was this guy? And who the hell did he think he is approaching me while I was grocery shopping?' I thought to myself. I then remembered the card he so willingly put in with my items.

The card was apparently to a bar named Sacrifice, but the image on the front seemed to give the impression that it was a tad bit more than just a bar. The employee name in the middle had stated that the man's name was Victor Dashkov and he also happened to be the manager.

I stood in the middle of the store and toyed with the card in my hand. When I flipped it over there happened to be a note, in very messy writing, may I add. It read 'In case you are still looking for a job.'

'Okay…' I thought. This was weird. How had this man known I was looking for a job? And why in the world would I ever want to work for him? Something didn't seem to add up, but I wasn't going to worry about it now.

I then purchased all of the items in my cart and hastily carried everything back to the hotel. Keeping an eye out for any suspicious looking sites along the way.

After three days of hearing absolutely nothing back from any of the places I had put in applications at I was starting to regret this entire trip. It might have also been the fact that I hadn't had a good night sleep in a while, but I wasn't too sure. I needed to get out of that crappy hotel and possibly into some type of apartment. That idea made me nervous, only because that would make it seem like this trip was more permanent. But there was absolutely no way in hell I would be staying in another hotel for a very long time after I got out of this one.

While cleaning up some of the clutter that had accumulated around the room over the last couple a days, I stumbled across the little black business card with half naked women on it. I began contemplating what the man exactly wanted me to do there. Maybe I could bartend? I always found that interesting. The way they would toss bottles behind their backs, and light the entire bar on fire.

It was only eleven o'clock in the morning, so I figured if I was going to check this place out, now would be the best time. You know, unless I wanted to run into naked women, horny men and obnoxious drunks.

I took a quick shower, and dressed in a skintight white long sleeve shirt, dark jeans and a pair of knee high black boots. I didn't want to get too dressed up, so people at this bar didn't get any ideas, but I also wanted to look cute enough in case they were to offer me a bartending job.

It didn't take me long to find the place, seeing as it was already packed, and obviously a very popular bar. Why in the world did people come to a bar before noon? Damn alcoholics.

After arguing with the bouncer for ten minutes that I was only here to talk to Victor, I walked in and was immediately overwhelmed by the scent of sex, booze, and testosterone. This place was insane. There were huge open rooms surrounding the entire perimeter that were filled with furniture that looked unbelievably comfortable. For a second I actually wanted to go lay on them. Until I realized what probably happened on those couches and chairs. Gross.

The bar was massive, and actually looked kind of pretty. With all of it's colored lights, and bottles upon bottles of alcohol everywhere. Opposite to the bar was a stage covered with poles, and two runways that ran perpendicular off of it. And of course they were already swarmed with women.

I have never in my life been to a strip club, or a bar for that matter. But I was almost entirely certain that the ones we had in Pennsylvania, looked nothing like this. And neither did any of the women. They were all extraordinarily beautiful in their own way. And the way that they moved on the stage was almost entrancing; I could barely keep my eyes off of them. No wonder men tipped them so much.

I guess I wasn't really watching where I was going at this point because I ran face first into a pretty blonde girl who looked to be the same age as me. Her hair was shoulder length, and she had the prettiest shade of green eyes I have ever seen. Her soft features, and the delicacy of her voice as she spoke to me almost made her seem too angelic to work in such a place like this.

"I am SO sorry! I'm so out of it today! I had such a long night, and now it just seems nothing can go my way today…Ugh!" She gave me a concerned look, and I actually felt bad for her. She looked like she hadn't slept in a while, but of course that didn't interfere with her pretty appearance at all.

"Really, it's okay." I reassured her with a slight smile. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. This is my first time here, and I'm just looking for Victor…" I had hoped she caught on and could then point me in the right direction.

"Victor? I'm not sure that he's here this early, but let me drop these drinks off at that table over there and I'll take you to his office, okay?"

This girl was adorable. She had an innocent essence about her, I wondered how she came across working at a place like this.

"I'm Lissa, by the way." She promptly stated as she rejoined the place next to me.

"I'm Rose, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Rose. Are you looking for a job here?" Her voice sounded estatitc, almost excited when she asked that.

"I'm not sure yet actually." She gave me a questioning look and I quickly pulled out the business card to show her.

"OH. No wonder why you want to see Victor. He gives these out to..."

Lissa was immediately cut off when the door in front of us opened and Victor appeared out of thin air.

"Well hello again." His creepy voice rang. "Lissa, you can get back to work now, I will take it from here."

I gave Lissa an apologetic smile, and hoped that I could talk to her later.

"Please, come in and sit down, Rose." He said as we walked into his office and he shut the door behind us.

It took me a few seconds before I realized that I hadn't told him my name yet…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

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><p>"How do you know my name…?" I asked Victor questioningly. I wouldn't have been surprised if there was also a bitchy look plastered to my face, since I couldn't even fathom how this man knew me.<p>

"I heard you tell Lissa, of course. How else would I know you?" He gave me a quick smirk, and I was thoroughly surprised he didn't have any gold teeth. He seemed like a gold tooth kind of person.

"Oh…well, I came here because you gave me this card the other night. And I still haven't found a job and I really need to get myself into an apartment."

"I see…" His voice gave me chills, and not the good kind either.

"So I was hoping you could hire me? I would love to learn how to bartend. Or do whatever Lissa does. That looked pretty simple to me."

"Oh Rose… that's not why I gave you that card. Besides, we don't have any bartending or waitress positions that need to be filled at the moment."

"So wh-what would you want me to do?" I could hear the shakiness in my voice. I secretly knew I didn't want to hear his answer, but I couldn't force myself to get up and leave anyway.

"I think you know, Rose."

I didn't like the way he said my name, at all. It creeped me out, and I sat there contemplating what he just said.

"A janitor?" I laughed a little, hoping he would actually take me seriously. There was no way I wanted to be one of those girls on the stage.

He chuckled, and it was then that I realized he didn't realize the seriousness of my question.

"Oh Rose… What you have to realize is that I don't just hire anyone to fill those positions. Girls are not permitted to just come in here and try out. This isn't a high school cheerleading squad. I recruit the best of the best, the cream of the crop. The sexiest girls in all of New York."

I gulped. I most definitely did not fall into any of those categories. I think he sensed my uneasiness so he leaned down and pulled something out of the briefcase that was on the side of his desk. It was an unbelievably large amount of cash. I had never seen so much cash in my life.

"This is what you could have if you worked for me." He shook the stacks of money in his hand. "I would even be willing to give you an advanced paycheck, if you like. It would be more than enough to pay for a down payment on a nice piece of real estate here."

The thought actually began to sound appealing to me. All that money, just for me? I had seen the sky-rise apartments, and the apartments that looked over central park. I had never had much growing up, so now all the material things that I had longed to have all those years was now suddenly within my grasp. I think he may have saw the excitement in my eyes because he began to smile.

"I can give you a few days to think about…" Just because he had said that, I knew he didn't mean it. He wanted an answer now, and I was willing to give it to him.

"I'll do it." I whispered.

"What's that Rose? I didn't quite catch what you said." His eyes were gleaming as they bore into me. I had the feeling that I had just sold my soul to the devil. It was not a pleasant feeling.

"I said, I'll do it." My voice was stern, and it actually kind of frightened me a little. I never usually needed to raise my voice like this, but this guy was a dick and was getting me angry.

"Great, you can start tonight. We're hosting a bachelor party so we are going to need all the ladies on the floor that we can get."

"TONIGHT?" I stood up, outraged. I needed time to mentally prepare myself to do this. I couldn't believe he was asking me to start tonight. Besides, I had nothing to wear; I didn't know what to do, or anything else for that matter. Didn't they at least train their employees before sending them out on their own to do the job? I expressed my concerns to the man and he replied with five simple words.

"I'll take care of it."

**Okay, so I'm not sure if you guys saw my note on the last chapter or not but it's not showing up for me. So I'll repeat myself again. (sorry!)**

**Basically, I put links on my profile as to what the business card looks like and I also put a picture of the club/bar I based this one off of. If you wanna see more pictures you can Google 'Penthouse Executive Club'. I'm really big on visualizing things so I hope you guys don't mind when I post stuff like that. As for this chapter, I know it's short. But I promise the next chapter will be longer. Plus, I've decided to space things out a little more, I figured it might be easier for you guys to read. And I will most likely update later on tonight! Review if you read, please and thank you! xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

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><p>No more than five minutes passed and two girls who were actually quite intimidating looking were already dragging me out of Victor's office. Despite the fact that they had close to nothing on, they also had this fierceness about them that caused me to be a tad bit reluctant to follow. Unfortunately I really didn't have a choice.<p>

Once they started talking to me though, it's like their fierceness melted away. They then began to get all giddy like a schoolgirl when they found out that they basically got to play dress up with me today.

I was led backstage where I'm assuming all the magic happens. There weren't many girls back here, because most of them were already out front working.

After sitting me in what looked like a beauty salon chair, they introduced themselves as Mia and Sydney. They were both knockouts, and now I was starting to see that Victor really did stand by the whole 'You have to be the best of the best, cream of the crop nonsense'.

While Mia went to go get a couple of potential outfits ready, Sydney stood in front of me and started to play with my hair.

"You are _SO_ gorgeous! Like seriously, you might put us all to shame."

I almost choked on my own tongue from laughing so obnoxiously at Sydney's comment. But then I realized that she was being dead serious when she gave me a confused look.

"Sorry, but have you seen all the girls here? They're practically supermodel status. Yourself included of course." I tried to fix the awkwardness a little, and soon she had her beaming smile on her face once again.

"Too short to be a model, trust me I tried." She giggled a little bit.

"Is that how you ended up here?" I asked curiously. I was desperate to find out if anyone was in a relatively similar situation so then just maybe I wouldn't feel so bad about the whole thing.

"Well yeah, kind of. I'm actually seeing Victor's son though. He's the one who got me involved with this, as strange as that sounds." She had a hint of sadness in her voice, and I didn't want to kill the mood again so I just decided to change the subject.

"I'm really worried about performing tonight…" I said, the nervousness was clearly evident in the tone of voice I used.

"Aw! I promise you, you have absolutely nothing to worry about! It's not as hard as it seems. Victor said that he'll just have you work on one of the side poles on stage, obviously nothing too major or anything. Just like to use it as a prop and stuff. Mia and I will show you some basics later."

"But now, we'll work on your outfit!" Mia shouted excitedly just as she was rolling over a clothes rack.

My first thought was 'Oh Lord, what did I get myself into.' I had never seen such skimpy clothes in my entire seventeen years of living. How did people actually feel comfortable wearing this stuff? I picked up a hot pink bra and panty set, rubbing the fabric in-between my fingers. Hey, at least it felt comfortable.

"Do you like that one?" Sydney asked, rushing over to me.

"Ehh…" I replied with a skeptical look on my face. "Pink really isn't my color." I put the set back on the rack and continued to browse through my options.

"Rose, I think I may have found the PERFECT outfit for you!" Mia held up a lace, one-piece lingerie item. It looked way too scandalous to ever be seen on me, but honestly, it was probably the one item on this cart that I could actually see myself in.

Sydney ushered me into the dressing room and quickly closed the door. I started to undress and I once again began regretting my decision. I felt wrong, getting undressed in a place like this. And oh my God! What would Mason think? Why had I not considered him at all throughout this decision making process?

As I stood there naked in the dressing room, trying to figure out how to put the damn thing on, I thought about calling it all off. Putting on all my clothes and walking straight out of this place and never looking back. But after looking at myself in the mirror in this article of clothing, I instantly pushed that thought aside. I looked HOT. I mean, I know I'm really, really good looking. But I had never felt this sexy in my entire life.

The black one-piece had see through lace that ran down the front of my body, barely covering both of my nipples. I had to admit, it made my cleavage look amazing. It showed my entire stomach and connected in the front with a thin piece of lace, leading to a very skimpy bottom half and completely exposing my ass in the back.

I had never felt so exposed, yet so confident in my life. I slowly opened the door to show the other girls how I looked, and I was greeted with happy faces.

"HOLY SHIT!" is all Mia said. Followed by a very impressed Sydney replying "Dayuuuum girl, you look GOOD." With a huge emphasis on the good.

I came out of the dressing room completely, and gave them a little twirl. I had not felt once the slightest bit self conscious, even though I was practically naked with two complete strangers.

"If I thought you were going to put us to shame when I saw you with clothes on, I definitely think you're going to put us to shame now!" Mia nodded her head in agreement with Sydney's statement.

"Now we need to find you some shoes!" They said in unison, followed by a few giggles.

I was actually getting excited doing all this girly stuff. I had girl friends in high school, but none of them were like Sydney and Mia were. It actually felt good to be with such uplifting people.

When we got to the huge rack where all the shoes were I picked up a pair with an at least a seven inch heel.

"How do people walk in these? Let alone dance!" Mia and Sydney met each other's gazes and laughed.

"You'll learn, Rose."

"Yes, Rose. You will." An all too familiar voice chimed in. I turned around to see Victor leaning up against a wall. "And might I add, you look ravishing. You'll definitely be a big hit out there tonight." He was clearly checking me out, which bothered me. But really, what could I do at this point?

I rolled my eyes at him, and turned back to the shoes. I finally found a pair that was my size, and decent in height. They were super cute, black and strappy, with just the right amount of ankle support. Which I thought was crucial. I didn't want to get injured on my first night at work.

"Those are perfect!" Sydney said, and Mia smiled which let me know she agreed with her. I quickly put them on and started to walk around in them, getting a feel for how they fit.

"There's only one last thing to do before we practice. HAIR AND MAKE-UP TIME!" Mia clearly enjoyed this a little too much. I had already had some make-up on. But obviously it wasn't enough. They took me back to the chair and hovered around me, barely giving me enough room for air.

Sydney immediately started working on my hair with a flat iron, she thought curly hair would take away from the outfit. And Mia began doing my make-up.

When I was done, I couldn't stop staring at myself in the mirror. My confidence was normally pretty high, because I have always been a cocky individual. But now, seeing me all dolled up like this, I felt like a princess. A very skanky, half naked looking princess, nonetheless. But at this moment I felt like there was no one in the world who could rain on my parade.

Thankfully it was still early in the day, so when Sydney and Mia dragged me to a pole across the room for practice, I didn't panic. I had plenty of time to learn a few things, I thought.

Once the music began to play, it was like something had triggered in them. They immediately went to action. Both girls had their own pole, and started off slow, dancing around the pole, shaking their asses a little bit. Then came the crazy stuff. Mia walked a good distance away, before hurrying back and lunging herself onto a pole. She twirled her body in ways I couldn't even imagine. And when I looked over, Sydney was doing the same. They finished their pole routine and Mia made her way over towards Sydney. 'Rude Boy' by Rihanna had come on the stereo, so now both girls were dancing pretty dirty with each other and the pole. Their movements were synchronized and flowed perfectly with each other.

I sat there, in a trance just watching them. Completely mesmerized by their flawless movements. When I snapped out of it I groaned to myself and thought 'Damn, I've got a lot to learn.'

**I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I put another link on my page of the outfit that Rose wore. The girl in the pictures is actually a girl I know, and she was sort of an inspiration of some sorts for this story. She's actually a model though, not a stripper or anything. You will see how I've incorporated her into the story later! Plus, I think she actually fits the description of Rose pretty well! Review if you read, please and thank you! xoxo**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

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><p>After a couple of hours I was finally able to get some basic moves down. I was nowhere near as talented as Mia and Sydney, but I felt that I could be that good one-day. I was a quick learner.<p>

While we were finishing up practicing, a really good song came on the radio and we all let loose. It probably looked like we were a couple of teenagers at a slumber party the way we were dancing, but we didn't care. We were goofing around and grinding all up on each other when a surprisingly really cute guy came in. You could tell he was interested in what we were doing by the look on his face. He was clearly enjoying himself.

When Sydney noticed him walk in her eyes lit up, and she quit dancing.

"Adrian… hey." She said coolly, walking to where he was standing. Adrian glanced at her and walked over to where Mia and I were standing.

"And who might you be?" He said with a rather large smirk on his face.

Adrian was Victor's son. The one that Sydney obviously liked, so I resisted the urge to be my usual flirty self. There was no way I wanted to get on her bad side, and besides I had Mason. Even though this guy's looks made me weak in the knees, I simply stuck out my hand and introduced myself.

"I'm Rose. I just started working here today." I tried to be as professional as possible. But when he took my hand and lifted it up to his mouth to lay a light kiss upon it I couldn't help but blush. Hopefully Sydney didn't see.

"Oh yes. You must be the one my father was gushing on about this morning. Everyone's really excited to see you perform tonight."

"Well gee… thanks I guess." I stated coldly as I pulled my hand away. I didn't want to give him the wrong idea, and I could sense Mia and Sydney's eyes glaring at me right now. So I made up an excuse to leave the room so I could get the hell out of that awkward situation.

When I came back into the room Adrian was thankfully gone. All the girls who were out on stage performing earlier were starting to come back stage to get ready to leave. That meant it was almost our turn to go out there. The butterflies in my stomach started going crazy. I couldn't believe that I was doing this.

Sure, I didn't have the greatest childhood. I didn't have the loving, supportive family that everyone else did while they were growing up. But who would have thought that I, Rose Hathaway, would now be working in New York City and getting paid to turn horny men (and sometimes women) on. It was such a crazy thought.

As I chatted with and got to know some of the other girls, Victor came back and announced that it was time to go on stage. Mia and Sydney could sense my nervousness and they both gave me hearty smiles and a big thumbs up. 'You can do this, I thought. You HAD to do this.' It was too late to turn back now.

I followed the other girls on stage, and I was instantly overwhelmed. The amount of eyes in this room that were on me was way more than I ever imagined would be there. But I couldn't let my fear get the best of me.

As I made my way to my place on stage I started slowly moving my body with the beat. I was trying to get a feel for the song that was playing. That way I would be ready to go when I made it over to my pole.

The techno song that they had playing was actually kind of good, and very easy to move to. I swayed my hips and rocked them back and forth as I moved towards my pole.

I placed my back against the pole and slowly started spinning circles around it. Once I was facing the crowd again, I grabbed the pole with both hands above my head and slowly started to lower my body and gyrate my hips. As I got lower, I let go of the pole with one of hands and let my fingertips trail lightly down my body. I made sure that I made eye contact with the audience as I did so. Mia said that it would always get you more tips. It was important to make the guys feel 'special' and I guess making sultry eye contact with them was the way to do it.

Just then a large group of men clambered through the door, which I was assuming the bachelor party that Victor spoke of earlier. It wasn't that difficult to tell who the bachelor was, because he seemed to be the most out of control of them all.

They were making their way across the floor towards the stage and I mentally prayed that they wouldn't come to the side that I was on. I then shrugged it off, hoping they would come on my side. This would be my chance to show everyone what I was made of. Plus, there were a lot of good-looking guys in the group. Why not show off and try to earn some extra cash?

When they made it to the side of the stage I was on, they sat at the table that was closest to the end of the stage. I gave them a flirty smile, and proceeded with the same moves I had before.

There was one specific guy who I could tell was eyeing me up. And boy was he hot. His chin length brown hair framed his face perfectly, and he had the biggest brown eyes I've ever seen. I felt like I was getting lost in them when he looked at me. I made direct eye contact with him and then decided to go out on a limb and try some different moves.

While keeping my eyes on him I positioned myself so I was on the side of the pole. I gripped it with both of my hands, and lowered myself all the way down to my feet. I then stuck my ass out as far as it would go, and slowly stood back up. I spun myself around the pole, with my legs wrapped tightly around the bottom until I lost my momentum.

I kept my eyes focused entirely on the tall dark and handsome man sitting in the front row. I felt his gaze meet mine and I gave him my sexiest smile.

I continued to work my magic on the pole, keeping my body in sync with the music the entire time. I then noticed some of the other girls straying away from their pole to dance just on the stage directly in front of the people. That way the men in the front would have easy access to slip a couple tips into the girl's bra or panties.

I was nervous to do this, only because I had been practically eye fucking the hell out of this guy from a far all night. And now he would be close enough to touch me.

Suddenly a surge of confidence came through me and I joined in with what the other girls were doing. I made my way in front of the bachelor party and started to work my magic. I swayed my hips to the beat, and rotated my hips around and around. I made sure to dance as sexual as I possibly could, considering the more these guys were aroused, the more they would most likely tip me.

I glanced at the clock on the wall and it was almost time for us to take our break. I stuck my ass out extra far so the guys would have enough room to slip something in the string of my thong before I got off stage. Just as I was about to stand up I saw with my peripheral vision the tall, dark and handsome man stand up and get out his wallet. He took out a bill and pulled gently on the string of my underwear and stuck it in. When I looked down I realized it was a hundred dollar bill.

Was this real life? I didn't think so until I saw all the other girls getting up and making their way off stage. I gave the now rich, tall, dark and handsome man a quick wink and strut off the stage.

I decided to go grab a water before I was going to head back and made my way down the stage steps on the far side. Then out of the shadows Adrian popped out and cornered me against a wall.

"You have no idea how good you looked out there tonight." He breathed into my face. I could instantly smell a strong odor of booze and cigarettes.

"Thanks…" I said, and tried to push him away from me.

He started to play with the ends of my hair, and stuck his face really close to my neck. He kept saying over and over again how sexy I was, and how badly he wanted to fuck me.

I was overwhelmed with disgust, and continually tried to pull away. Unfortunately he was a lot stronger than me, so there wasn't a lot I could do. He began to kiss my neck really hard, almost to the point where it hurt. And I felt his fingers enter the bottom part of my panties. I could feel him getting aroused against my leg, and as he did, his biting on my neck and movement against my clit began to get more ferocious.

Normally I would've probably been turned on, had it not been Adrian holding me on this wall, against my will. I quickly became infuriated, and tried to make my anger known. But my voice was muffled by the sounds of everyone else in the club, and the deafening music.

I squirmed to get out of his grasp, and eventually resorted to doing something I felt really bad in doing. I lifted up my leg and shoved my knee directly into his balls. He fell instantly to the floor, groaning in pain.

I was almost in tears by this time, when I slowly made my way down the stairs and out the back door of the club.

Dimitri POV

I couldn't believe it, this would be the last time out with all of the guys before Mikhail was married.

Me? At this point in my life, I couldn't fathom getting married. It just wasn't the right time. Plus, my girlfriend seems to want to tie the knot a little too much. Which makes me want to not tie it, that much more.

Sacrifice was going to be our final stop tonight, mainly because it was one of the best places to go in New York, and because Mikhail and most of the other guys were too shitfaced to go anywhere else.

When we walked in I was immediately drawn in by all the beautiful women on stage. No wonder this place was so popular, it had the finest women in the entire city working here.

As we made it to our seats, I couldn't help but notice the girl dancing directly in front of us. Her long dark hair, and tanned skin went so perfectly with what she was wearing. And God was it hot.

I've never seen something so hot in my life. Yet she had an essence about her, that made her that much more beautiful. Me being the photographer I am, craved to put her in front of a camera so I could capture that pure beauty.

What I couldn't understand though, is how she got here. Sure, she had all the moves the other girls did, but I had a gut feeling that this wasn't something she had been doing all her life. She seemed almost too good, and too pure to be in this profession. Even though she clearly had what it takes to be successful here. I shook the thought out of my head when I saw her smile at me, and so for the rest of the night, I continued to lose myself in the way that she moved.

I could tell she was interested in me, the same way I was interested in her. I don't think she took her eyes off me the entire time we were there. Not that I minded.

I was enjoying the show she was putting on for us a little too much I think. My girlfriend would probably be mad, but it's not like I touched her or anything.

That was until I decided I was going to tip her. I brought out my wallet, and fished out a hundred dollar bill. I thought it would make her happy, and when I pulled on her underwear to slide it in, I could see her cheeks turn slightly pink. Her skin felt so soft, and I longed to feel more of it. But it was her break time, and I knew she had to go. I glanced up at her again and met her smile.

I watched her walk off the stage, and was actually considering approaching her. Maybe get her name, and give her my card. I think she could have potential in the modeling world, especially if I was the one to introduce her to it. I figured she might like it more, instead of just prancing around naked for strangers.

I once again shook the thought out of my head. What are you thinking Dimitri? You have Tasha. You shouldn't be interested in all.

However, I couldn't help but be interested when I noticed a guy come out of nowhere and decided to put his hands all over her…

**Wow, definitely a longer chapter than I had anticipated! I guess I got a little carried away. I couldn't sleep, so I figured, why not write? Hope you guys like it. I'm not sure how often I will throw in Dimitri's POV, probably only when necessary. Just because it's easier to write in Rose's POV. Let me know what you guys think! xoxo**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

At first I thought she was enjoying it, which upset me a little. I'm not going to lie. But I soon saw anger envelope her face, rejecting the idea that she actually wanted him to be doing those things to her.

As I made my way across the floor, dodging chairs and crowds of people, I noticed her knee him right in the crotch. I winced to myself, because I could only imagine the pain he was going through right now.

I stopped when I reached the location where the creep was laying on the floor, obviously still in pain. I laughed a little bit to myself, God this guy looked like such a pussy.

"You're going to pay for doing that, you know. You'll be lucky if she ever comes back here." I made sure to lean down right next to the guy's face, so he could clearly hear the threat that I was making. It didn't take him long to scramble up and leave.

I debated whether or not I should follow her outside. Me being the man of logic that I am, I weighed the pros and the cons. The pros included I would be protecting her from other threats, considering this club currently housed many of them. I could also try to convince her to get out of this business. Which would be a big help to her in the future, I knew it. The cons, she might reject my offer. And then I would look plain stupid. But then I chuckled to myself and remembered how flirtatious she had been with me earlier. There was no way she could reject my offer. So I headed outside to find her.

**Adrian POV**

I don't really remember talking to Rose all that much. Those 6 vodka and tonics I had earlier were really starting to affect me now.

All I can remember is getting kneed right in the balls, which meant I had probably done something to upset her. I still felt them throbbing in pain, so I decided not to move. This cold floor was way too comfortable right now.

Next thing I know, this guy is in my face, spitting threats at me. He obviously must not know who I am. Who was he, anyway?

Before I got up and ran away from him, I recognized the face. But I couldn't put a name with it. It took me a few moments to clear my head and then I knew it. He was Dimitri Belikov. That stupid photographer from 5th Avenue.

Everyone knew who he was. The line of work he was in was almost just as demanding as mine here in New York. And like my father and me, he was also very good at what he did. Which is why after letting his threats sink in, I set off to find my father.

When I found him he was flirting with a couple of his favorite girls backstage. No surprise there.

"Father, we have to talk." I said in the most serious tone I could handle.

"About what, my dear Adrian. Please, come sit and have a drink with us." He ushered me over to where he was sitting with the girls.

"I need to talk to you, alone." I think he could sense how serious I actually was. So he smiled at the girls, and excused himself from the group.

"What do you need Adrian?" He hissed, obviously mad at me for interrupting his time with them.

"Did you have Rose sign her paperwork yet?"

"No, not exactly. I wanted to get her prepared for this evenings show. The paperwork was really the last thing on my mind." He added, with a sly grin.

"Well, you better take care of it. Belikov is here, and has just threatened to basically get her out of this business. So you know he is not fooling around. Any photographer would love to put her on film and you know it."

"Hmm… I guess you're right. Well when she gets back from break, I'll have to take care of that. Thanks son." He patted me on the shoulder, and went back to join his posse.

I just hoped by the time he got to her, it wasn't too late.

**Rose POV**

I cursed at myself for starting to cry back in the club. It was impossible to find my way around this place with blurred vision. Eventually I found myself on one of the balconies, and luckily it was vacant. The girls must be back on stage already, but I didn't care. I needed time to myself right now, Victor would get over it.

As I leaned over the edge of the balcony, I placed my head in my hands and the tears began to flow quicker than before. What was I doing here? This night was turning out to be one big mistake. I would not be able to face Adrian again, even though he probably would have no recollection of what he just did. And what about Sydney? How would I ever face poor Sydney again?

Apparently I was too caught up in my own thoughts to hear the door open and close, because the tall, dark and handsome man was now standing next to me.

"You wanna get out of here?" I heard him say. His voice had to be just as sexy as he was. It was deep, and sensual with a hint of Russian (I think) accent. Had I not been so upset, I would have jumped into his arms and requested he take me home with him. But since I was not in the mood, and currently found the entire male population disgusting, I threw a couple of bitchy remarks his way.

"Do I wanna get out of here with you? ARE YOU JOKING? Do you think just because I was eye fucking the hell out of you tonight that automatically makes you think I'll just go wherever you want me to? WELL BUDDY, you have got a lot to learn. I was only paying attention to you because I wanted your money!" I was practically screaming at him, taking all my frustrations and vocalizing them. When I was done with my little rant, I looked at him wide-eyed. Was this guy seriously smiling right now?

**Dimitri POV**

I couldn't help but smile at her. I actually think I laughed a little too. I knew she was feisty from what she did in there with Adrian, but she just took her feistiness to a whole different level. It was actually really sexy.

"That's not what I meant, you know." I said as I glanced in her direction.

Her attitude, her posture, and the look on her face were doing wonders to my manhood. This would easily turn on any guy right now.

"What do you mean that's not what you meant? Please humor me, and tell me what other ways that could be interpreted." She now had her body facing me directly, eyes ablaze.

"Do you want my jacket? You look like you might be cold." I took it off and held it out to her.

"Stop changing the subject, asshole. I asked you a question and I would like an answer. And I don't need your charity. Just because I denied you the first time, doesn't mean you can be nice and I'll just magically change my mind."

I rested my jacket on the railing of the balcony, just in case she decided she wanted it.

"I meant, do you want to get out of this lifestyle?" I rummaged around in my coat pocket and found one of my business cards and handed it to her.

"Oh, another one of these stupid things. You know what? I'm done taking business cards from strangers. They obviously lead to nothing but trouble. So thanks but no thanks." She replied quickly, and she flung the card over the edge of the balcony.

I shook my head and smiled to myself as I watched it dance away in the New York breeze. And when I looked back in her direction, she was gone.

**Rose POV**

As I walked back into the club, I immediately regret my decision. It was so much more peaceful out on the balcony. And that guy? Phew, was he hot.

I felt bad being such a bitch to him, but I really wasn't in the mood to put up with anyone else and their sketchy job offers.

When I made it backstage, it was nearly closing time. Victor, like Adrian earlier, completely came out of nowhere and greeted me with his creepy grin.

I was really getting sick of seeing them. And honestly, how do they keep popping up out of nowhere? It was beginning to freak me out.

"I need to see you in my office Rose." Victor said as he strolled away.

I thought about screaming at him 'Oh, so you can molest me like your son just did?' But I voted against it. I didn't want to be a bitch to him, in case he was going to be paying me tonight.

When I made it to his office, I made sure to keep the door wide open, just in case. It's better to be safe, than sorry, right?

"I have some paperwork I need for you to fill out. Finalizing everything." He pushed a stack of papers towards me. Damn this was a lot of paper work. I really didn't know what was said in all of its pages, but I hastily signed it anyway. I was tired, had a long night, and desperately wanted to sleep. Even though I knew the hotel's bed couldn't satisfy my need.

"Is that all?" I asked in a monotone voice.

"Well yes, and this of course." He reached down and pulled out a couple stacks of money from his briefcase. Did he seriously just leave that thing lying around?

My face lit up as I gladly took the money away from him. I was definitely not going to count it now, because I would have felt rude. But I could tell there was a lot there.

"Thanks Victor." I tried to give him a small smile, showing my gratitude.

"Oh no Rose, thank you." He said with an overly creepy smile on his face. If I thought he was creepy before, this made him at least a thousand times creepier. I had no idea why he was smiling at me like that, but I didn't care.

I grabbed my money, and headed back towards the stage to gather the rest of my belongings. I was one of the last girls here, but after I changed into my normal clothes I thought about hanging up the black one piece. I figured no one would want it now though, after being all up on me tonight. So I stuck it in my bag, and headed for the door.

When I got outside the building, I obviously wasn't paying attention to where I was going and accidentally ran into this crazy looking old man. I dropped half of my purse's contents on the ground; thankfully none of it was the money.

As I scrambled to pick up all of my possessions, I noticed something on the ground lying next to my lip-gloss. I laughed to myself as I picked up the business card with the tall, dark and handsome man's face printed on the front.

Was this fate? I didn't know, but I knew after letting the business card fly away once, I wasn't going to let it escape me again.

**I hope you all are enjoying the story! It would mean sooo much to me if you guys reviewed and gave me your feedback! And a big thank you to all of the people who have already reviewed! You guys are too sweet! xoxo**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

I slept well into the next day, partially because I was up all night. Thinking about my job. Thinking about my life. Thinking about my Mason. But most importantly, thinking about Dimitri.

Which I found out was his name, after staring at the business card for a good two hours yesterday. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he left me with. I couldn't even explain it to myself, it was that crazy.

Sure, Mason and I had a connection. But it was different than how I had felt when I was around Dimitri. So last night I tossed and turned in my bed until I finally fell asleep after seven a.m.

I woke up today still unsure of what I should do. Dimitri had given me the option to get out of the nightlife business, which honestly after last night, didn't sound half bad. Victor was a creep, and Adrian was a bigger creep, so I wasn't really sure how much more I wanted to put up with from them.

After much consideration, I decided I would go over to Dimitri's studio. Just to see what it was about.

Besides, I thought it would be the best option for everyone. I would get out of the nightlife industry, which would please myself, and Dimitri. If he even wanted to for sure hire me anyway. And also the best option for Mason, whom I would never tell about working in a club, if I were able to find different employment.

I convinced myself that the only reason I was feeling this way towards Dimitri was because he was the first guy I had really danced for yesterday. He tipped me well, and he was smoking hot. Plus he had been a gentleman, offering me his coat while we were both outside. I was going to force myself to forget these thoughts, because honestly they probably didn't matter much anyway.

Dimitri was obviously much older than I was, and I'm sure the only reason he felt the need to help me was because he felt bad for me.

But for some reason, after I got myself showered and ready to meet with him, I couldn't help but want to get dressed up to try to impress him.

I slipped on my dark gray cheetah print skirt, and topped it with a fitted white tee. I had to admit, the outfit clung to my body beautifully. I also added a cute pair of silver dangly earrings, as well as a black belt to accentuate my slim waistline.

I decided to leave my hair with its natural wave today, but I also curled some of the ends with a curling iron to give it a more glam look. I wore minimal make-up, partially because since I wore so much yesterday it took forever to come off. And I didn't want to have to go through that again tonight. I finished off my look with a coat of nude lip-gloss, and headed out the door.

I flagged down a taxi in no time, which completely took me by surprise. I gave the driver the address to Dimitri's studio that was on his card, and we made it there in a little less than ten minutes. The traffic was ridiculous for some reason today, and I cursed myself for not walking here which definitely would have taken less time.

I stepped out onto the street and fell in love with New York all over again. Everything was so beautiful, and Dimitri's studio was in a building that directly overlooked Central Park. I couldn't even begin to fathom how much rent he must be paying for that place, because I'm sure it was astronomical.

I figured that his studio was on one of the upper floors of the building, but as I looked up, I couldn't help but notice how tall this building was. All that ran through my mind was 'PLEASE let there be elevators'. As I admired the building, I began walking to the main entrance. When all of the sudden I collided again with someone else. Seriously, how many more times could this happen this week?

Ironically, it also happened to be someone I already knew.

Well, kind of. It was the cute blonde girl who got the position at Giovanni's diner. The position I should have gotten. Thinking about it now, I almost had to laugh out loud. Had I gotten that position, I wouldn't be in this situation right now. In my head, I pictured myself punching her right in her nose and then proceeding to rip every last strand of hair off of her pretty little head.

"Sorry!" I said with a big fake smile plastered all over face. Maybe I should try to be an actress while I was here instead.

"It's no biggie, I'm just glad I didn't spill this food everywhere! My boyfriend would have been awfully upset!" She said while she smiled and held up a couple bags of Chinese take out.

I politely held the door open for her so she could walk in. We both got onto the elevator, and she pushed the button for the 6th floor.

That was the floor Dimitri's studio was on.

I started to get a bad feeling in my stomach, and that feeling was made much, much worse when we both got off the elevator and headed for office doors.

Much to my surprise, Dimitri must have heard the door opened and greeted us both in the doorway. However, the cute blonde girl received a much better greeting when she ran up to him and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I brought you some food, baby!" She said in her annoying, perky voice.

Maybe I would just push her down the fire escape instead of punching her. I thought that would do much more damage.

The entire time she talked to him, his eyes were on me. I felt weird and awkward, like I was interrupting a very private moment. I turned around to walk away when I heard that sexy voice of his speak to me.

"Wait!" He pushed past his girlfriend and came towards me. "She was just leaving." He mumbled under his breath so only I could hear.

"Tasha, this is one of my clients. We have a photo shoot planned in less than ten minutes and I really need to get stuff set up for her. I'll call you later okay?" I rolled my eyes at his blatant lie.

"Okay! Don't forget!" She said as she smiled and tapped her finger lightly against his nose.

God, could this bitch get any more annoying?

After she left Dimitri grabbed the bags of Chinese and signaled for me to follow him towards the back of the studio.

His studio was very large and spacious. It had expensive looking wooden floors, and pictures of beautiful scenery, women, and families lining every wall. I wasn't even sure if all of this was his work, but I was already impressed.

Once we reached his office, I sat down in a big comfy chair directly across from him. He sat down in his large office chair, folded his hands on the desk in front of him and just stared at me.

I stupidly looked around the office, trying to pretend like I didn't notice him. Eventually I caught on that he was waiting for me to initiate the conversation and quite frankly I was getting bored with all the silence so I decided to speak up.

"So… your girlfriend seems nice." I said as I cocked an eyebrow.

"You came all the way here to talk about my girlfriend?" He asked, returning the same sarcastic look.

"I don't know, you tell me. You're the one who gave me your stupid business card. By the way, it's very narcissistic of you to have your face covering the entire thing."

He couldn't help but smile at my comment. And my God, that smile was amazing. I had a feeling he didn't show it to many people.

"It wasn't my idea, trust me." He opened a few of the food containers that were in the bag and offered me a set of chopsticks.

"No thanks." I said. "Besides, if we are doing a photo shoot, I wouldn't want it to look like I'm carrying a food baby inside of me or something."

"You are something else, you know that?" He smiled again, and when he looked at me, it was almost as if his eyes were sparkling.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." I said shyly. I was starting to blush so I forced myself to get out of the chair and look around his office a little.

"So, you spent a good portion of your night last night insulting me, you drive all the way down to my studio today and deny me when I try to offer you some of my food. And I'm just now realizing that I don't even know your name."

"My name is Rose." I stated as I sat back down. I looked directly into his eyes and with all seriousness I quietly said, "and I want to get out of the nightlife industry."

"Well then Roza," he said with his big, warm smile. "We have a lot to take care of."

**Kind of a boring chapter, but very necessary! A picture of Rose's outfit is posted on my profile! Keep reading and reviewing! xoxo**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" I asked him questioningly. I didn't mean it in a rude way at all, I was just curious. It's almost as if his already very large smile, just got a little bit bigger. And I just didn't really understand why.

"It's just, I knew that you didn't want to be doing that. When I was watching you on stage, it was like I could tell that you were unhappy. Which is why I wanted to help you, because I knew you were better than all of that."

I bit my lip, trying to keep myself from grinning like a damn fool. The entire time I looked at him it was almost as if my brain was shouting 'No Rose! Bad!' like I was some sort of dog. I knew he was off limits, hell, I was off limits! So why was I feeling this way?

"Don't act like you know me." I said in an exasperated tone, letting my rough exterior back up.

"Fine then, have it your way." He looked away and began typing something on his computer, while I sat there playing with my nails. Then something started to make it's way out of his printer, and he got up to retrieve it.

"If you're serious about this, then I need you to fill it out. It's just basic information I keep on file for all my models. Then sign and date the back. I'm going to go get my camera ready so when you're done we can take some test shots." His voice now sounded stern, and almost cold. It made me regret the way I had acted, but really, what other choice did I have?

**Dimitri POV**

I couldn't believe how difficult Rose was being. I have met some pretty stubborn people in my life, but now looking back at all of them, none of them compared to Rose. None of them were even close to comparing to Rose. So if she wanted to play these games, then I was going to play right back.

I gave her all the paperwork that she needed to fill out, and went back towards my studio to get everything ready. I figured I would take some outside shots today, since the weather was so nice. Thankfully she already had on an appropriate enough outfit, so I didn't need to get my stylists or anything involved. Besides, I wanted this to go quick.

I'm not saying I didn't want to hang out with her anymore; it's just that I can't. She makes me feel something inside that no one has made me feel in a really long time. And I barely even knew her. Crazy right?

I made my way back into the office and gathered up her paperwork. I gave it a quick once over, hoping to catch a little bit more information about her. After reading the third line, I had to laugh and give it back to her.

"Come on Rose, put your real age. I know you're not seventeen."

I expected her to laugh along with me, grab the pen and correct her mistake. Only she didn't.

"I really am only seventeen." She pulled her I.D. out of her wallet and handed it to me. I couldn't believe it. I stared at her wide-eyed and thanked the good Lord that I hadn't acted on any of my prior feelings for her. That definitely would have landed me a nice cozy spot down at the state penitentiary.

"How do you work at Sacrifice then? You're still just a kid!" I was utterly shocked. She was seventeen and working at a strip bar for Christ's sake. It made me want to get her out of that business even more than I had already wanted to.

"I'm not just a kid." She said smugly. "I'll be eighteen in like a month."

All I could do was shake my head. I don't know who was more upset about this entire situation. Me? Because she was still so young. Which made me feel wrong for thinking all those dirty thoughts I had about her while she was on stage the other night. Or her? Because I had just referred to her as a kid, and I could tell that even though she was just a kid, she had wanted all the same things as me.

**Rose POV**

'Great, just GREAT.' I thought. I knew I should have lied about my age but I didn't exactly expect him to look at all the information while I was sitting right here.

"So are we going to do this, or not?" I said, standing up and placing my hands on my hips. Now I was getting impatient, plus I had to go to work in less than an hour.

"I usually don't work with minors, but I would rather you work for me than anyone else."

I cringed at his words. God, couldn't he just forget about the whole age thing already? It wasn't THAT big of a deal. I couldn't help but notice how he seemed protective of me though. I just hoped that it wasn't as a little sister kind of protection, more like I don't want anyone else looking at you or touching you because I want you kind of protection. A girl can dream, can't she?

"Let's just get this over with already then. I have places to be." I shoved past him and headed out the lobby doors.

When we made it down to the alleyway that we were shooting in, I began to get nervous. I had never really done this before. Luckily, every time my foster mom's issue of Cosmopolitan came in the mail, I was able to sneak up to my room, read it and then put it back in the mailbox before she could even notice. It was kind of my guilty pleasure. So I figured I could bust out a few of the moves in that magazine and be okay. Besides, I was sexy by nature. It shouldn't be that hard to convey that onto a photograph, right?

"Do I just do whatever? Or are you going to quit being a mute and actually give me some direction here?" I raised my eyebrows at him, waiting on an answer. I didn't want to look stupid, but the way he was treating me right now, was making me look AND feel stupid.

"Just do whatever comes naturally for you. That way I can get a feel of how you use your body and your facial expressions. If something needs adjusting we can work on it later."

"I'm sure you'd LOVE to get a feel for how I use my body." I mumbled sarcastically under my breath as I positioned myself in one of the brick doorways in the alley. I didn't think he heard me, but I saw a small smile come across his face as he hid behind the camera.

I spent a lot of time posing for him. Using my body in many different ways, and trying out a variety of facial expressions. When I did something that he liked he always complimented me on it, saying things like 'That's good' or 'Hold it right there!' I was expecting a little bit more out of him, because I was sure I looked more than just 'good'. But I was sick of arguing with him today so I let it go.

When he told me that we were going to do one more full body shot, and then move on to a couple of head shots I decided it was time to take things up a notch.

I positioned by body so I was barely leaning on the brick wall. I had one hand woven in my hair, gripping it sort of roughly. And the other hand I placed on my thigh where the edge of my skirt ran. I then decided it was a good idea to brush my fingertips up my leg, lifting my skirt up just a little bit higher. I then gave him the most seductive look I could come up with. Parting my lips ever so slightly, and focusing my eyes solely on him. I heard him exhale a long breath, and I smiled to myself on the inside. 'I'll show you how much of a kid, I'm really not.' I thought.

"You're doing really well, Rose. You're a natural." He said, as he looked me up and down one last time. It was as if he was finally taking me all in.

"You'd be surprised at all the things I'm naturally good at doing." I said and gave him one of my wonderful man eating smiles.

He shook his head, and stood up from the previous position he was in. He then got really close to my face and looked through the camera lens, testing the different angles.

He began snapping shots, and then out of nowhere he put his camera down and came closer than he was before. He looked me right in the eyes, and I could feel his hot breath against my face. I'd be lying if I said this wasn't turning me on right now. Then he took his hand and fixed some of the hair that needed to be tamed in order to get the picture right.

I swear I felt his hand linger against my head a little bit longer than it should have. But it's not like I was going to start complaining.

We were now gazing directly into each other's eyes, and it almost felt as if we could see deep down into each other's souls. I felt my breathing getting deeper, and I knew he sensed it too. Our faces began to get closer, like gravity or some magical force was pulling us together.

I couldn't help myself anymore, I had to kiss him. I had to taste those perfect lips, and feel them merge with mine.

And just as our lips were about to touch, my cell phone rang. It was Victor.

**Sorry to leave you guys with a cliffhanger! I will most likely add another chapter later on tonight. Keep the reviews coming! You guys have no idea how much I appreciate them! xoxo**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

"I better take this." I said as I shyly looked away from Dimitri. He nodded, and moved out of my way so I could answer the call. I could feel my cheeks burning; most likely a very deep red color and I prayed that he didn't notice.

Apparently I was supposed to be at work forty-five minutes ago, but I guess when I was with Dimitri I sort of lost track of time. I apologized briefly and told Victor I would be there in five minutes, even though I knew that was a lie. Sacrifice was about a twenty to thirty minute walk, and I wasn't going to risk getting caught in traffic again. Even though most of it has probably subsided already.

"I'm sorry, but I really have to go." I avoided eye contact with him at all costs. Since when does Rose Hathaway get shy or embarrassed?

And that's when I knew I was in way over my head.

"Okay… I should probably get some of these edited and proofed anyway." He said as he began to pack up his photography supplies.

I too began to get my stuff ready to leave, and I was about to head off towards the club when I heard that beautiful voice of his again.

"Oh and Rose?" I turned around and met his gaze. "I want you to model for me. Full time. You can quit your position at Sacrifice whenever. That is, if you still want to work for me."

I'm not sure why, but I thought I sensed some sadness or despair in his voice. Is he crazy? Of course I would want to work with him. Who in their right mind would ever turn down that offer?

"I'll see ya later Comrade." I replied, giving him an enormous smile. As I headed in the other direction I made sure to sway my booty a little more than normal as I walked. It couldn't hurt to show him what he was missing, could it?

**Dimitri POV**

I can't believe that almost happened. And I can't believe that I wanted and was actually going to allow it to happen! But God she looked so beautiful, I couldn't resist her anymore.

While we were standing there together, with her face in my hands, I immediately felt my inhibitions being lowered. I guess it was just the affect Rose had on me.

As we said our goodbyes, I hated to see her go. But I loved to watch her leave. She had an ass that would make a black girl jealous. I also couldn't help myself from laughing when she called me Comrade. She must have noticed it on a postcard my sister had sent from Russia last month.

I was happy that she was actually going to quit working at Sacrifice. Was she going to do it tonight? What would she say? A million thoughts ran through my head, and all of them involved Rose. Those wonderful thoughts were then interrupted as my phone started to ring. I looked down at the caller I.D. only to find out that it was Tasha.

Tasha. My girlfriend Tasha. The girlfriend I almost cheated on with Rose less than five minutes ago. I wasn't sure I wanted to answer, but I had been avoiding her for most of the day and began to feel bad about it so I answered.

"Hey Tash."

"Hey babe! I hadn't heard from you yet so I was just calling to make sure you were okay. You are okay, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll try to stop by later tonight when I'm done with work and everything."

"Okay! See you later! Love you!"

"You too, bye."

How could I hurt someone who cared so much for me? Tasha had such a big heart, and had given it all to me. But I guess at the end of the day, my heart lied with someone else.

I couldn't do this to her right now though. Not over the phone. And certainly not when I wasn't even sure Rose felt the same way. Sure, we had almost just kissed, but honestly I couldn't even begin to count the number of girls who just wanted to hook up with me because of how I looked.

So I've decided I wasn't going to let go of Tasha until I knew that Rose had the same feelings for me as I did her.

**Rose POV**

I don't think I've ever ran in heels so fast in my life. I'm also thoroughly shocked that I didn't roll an ankle or fall flat on my face in the process.

I made it to Sacrifice in nineteen minutes. (yes, I was running THAT fast) But Victor was still upset with me. And boy was he going to be upset later when I told him I no longer wanted to work for him.

While running around backstage trying to find my outfit to wear, I ran into Adrian.

"Can I help you with something?" I muttered as I continued to run in circles trying to find the outfit that had been laid out for me.

"I thought I could be of some assistance." He said with a sly grin, and he held out a complete outfit, including a white bra, see through thong with ribbons on the side, white stockings and white peep toe high heeled shoes all with my name on it. He must have known I was running late and would obviously show up completely unprepared.

"What makes you think I want your help?" I scoffed.

"Think of it as my apology." He held out the outfit far enough for me to grab it, but I was hesitant.

"You've got a really lame way of apologizing." I reached my hand out to take the outfit out of his hands and he pulled it back, a grin upon his lips the entire time.

He held out the outfit again, and when I went in to grab it a second time he grabbed my wrist and pulled me in close to him.

I could feel my heartbeat accelerating quickly as the images of last night ran through my head.

"I picked this outfit out especially for you." He said as the words he was saying slithered out of his mouth and directly into my ear. I felt his hot breath upon my neck, and I could practically feel his lips grazing the lobe of my ear. "It represents how angelic your appearance and demeanor is but we both know you're probably a huge freak in bed. So maybe I should have gotten something in red, instead?" He cackled right into my ear as I forced myself out of his grasp.

"You're a real perv, you know that?" I yanked the outfit out of his hands and he walked past me and whispered "only for you Rose." in my ear, before lightly smacking my ass when he went by.

Yeah, I definitely couldn't stand working here anymore.

The night seemed to drag on, since there was no hot Dimitri in the front row to distract me. But that didn't mean I wasn't trying to imagine his god-like face, and chiseled body on every man in this room. I still needed tips, so I desperately pretended he was here the entire time, just so I could get by.

I didn't make nearly as much as I did last night, but it was still an acceptable amount. I would definitely have enough money for a large down payment on an apartment now.

As I began packing my things up backstage I saw Victor walk by, so I flagged him down.

"Can I speak with you in your office when we are done here?"

"Sure Rose, anything for you." God I was starting to really see where Adrian got it. I sincerely hoped that for the sake of the planet that Victor had no other children.

I made my way up towards his office, making sure to once again leave the door open. However, when I sat down two extremely large, muscular woman closed it for me. This was odd, I thought.

"What did you need to talk to me about, Rose?"

"Um. I don't think I can work for you anymore." I tried to sound fierce, like I wasn't going to back down. But all Victor did was laugh.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice my dear." He stated, matter-of-factly.

Before I knew what was happening, one of the ogres that had shut the door literally lifted me out of my seat by the collar of my shirt and threw me against the office wall.

Her hand enclosed itself around my throat, causing me to struggle to catch my breath. As I tried to claw my nails into her hands, attempting to lighten her grip on me, the other she-woman came over and held me down. 'WHAT IS GOING ON?' I thought.

"You see Rose, when you signed that contract for me the other night, you were confirming your position as an employee here for the next five years. I can't just have someone as pretty as yourself running off on me like this. My company would go down the drain." He now made his way over to where I was being held and stroked a long, grimy finger down my cheek.

I tried to speak, but no words came out. Her grip was too tight on my throat, and I think Victor sensed that, plus I was probably turning blue so he allowed her to soften her grip.

"And what are you going to do if I don't show up to work tomorrow, huh?" I tried to act all big and strong, even though I was frightened. These were not people I wanted to get upset, and now just look where I am.

"Well, then I'll just have to let my little friends here take care of you." I laughed out loud at his comment. In case he didn't notice, his friends here, were not exactly little. "And I think you know my son, Adrian? He's taken quite a liking to you. Plus, he's very good at handling punishment if you know what I mean." Victor winked at me, and I almost felt like passing out. Not only from the lack of oxygen going to my brain right now, but how could someone be so cruel and sadistic?

Would he really send these girls after me? To hunt me down and hurt me? Or worse… kill me? And I knew what Adrian wanted; he made that very clear the other night when he forced himself upon me. There was no way I wanted him to be the one punishing me. I would rather the ogre women kill me, than to ever let him lay another finger on me.

"Okay! I give up. I won't quit." The girls relaxed a little bit, and all Victor could do was smile.

"I knew you'd see things my way."

The next thing I knew, I was out of the club and I was running. Where was I running? I honestly had no idea at that point. All I wanted to do was get as far away from that club as possible.

All my thoughts started to flood together. Did I realize what I just agreed to? I had to work for Victor for five years! I would never make it back to PA. And I know I haven't taken Mason into as much consideration as I should have the past couple days but he would never forgive me now! He would lose me for five whole years! I couldn't do that to him. I was supposed to be here in New York for two months! That's it! What had I gotten myself into? Why hadn't I just read over that stupid contract?

I felt the tears continue to pour over my eyes, and I knew I probably couldn't have looked any worse at this moment but I didn't care. I ran up all six flights of stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator and pounded on the door with my shaking hands until someone answered.

"Di-di-dimitri?" I choked through my violent sobs, I was hoping that it was him who answered the door. I couldn't really tell though because my vision was so impaired.

"Oh Roza…" Was all I heard before I was wrapped up in a warm embrace and taken inside.

**I hope you guys don't mind that I've been updating a lot! I wanted to get a good feel for this story before tomorrow because I have finals all week this week, so I probably won't update much then. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! A link to Rose's white outfit has been posted on my profile! Don't forget to review if you liked it xoxo**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

I spent the rest of the night looking over Rose's film from our photo shoot earlier today. And all I could think to myself was 'Damn I have never seen such a beautiful woman in my life.'

Sure, Tasha was pretty. But Rose was a completely different story. Rose defined perfection from her head down to her toes. Everything about her was beautiful. And I was finally starting to realize how truly intoxicated I had become by her.

I yawned and focused my attention on the large silver Rolex that rested on my left wrist. 12:47 a.m.? I must have been admiring Rose's photos a little too long, even though I seriously doubted I could ever get enough of her.

I also happened to forget that I told Tasha I would come over. I was actually really surprised she hadn't called yet either. As much as I dreaded going over there, I knew I had to. But first I figured I would take a shower. I had had a very long day, and besides I was already late so I didn't think adding a couple more minutes would make that much of a deal.

After my shower I put on a pair of my flannel pajama pants and began to dry my hair off a little. All of the sudden, I was startled by the sound of heavy knocking on the studio doors. It surprised me a little, since my actual apartment was farther into the building, yet from the sounds of the knock you would think someone was banging on my bathroom door.

I quickly made my way to the main doors, since obviously the person desperately wanted to get in. When I opened the door I couldn't comprehend the sight in front of me. Rose was obviously very upset, and I suddenly became angry, wondering who the hell had done this to her.

She called out my name, and I confirmed my presence by pulling her inside and wrapping her in my arms. She felt so tiny, and helpless in my large embrace, it almost pained me to look at her.

I held her in my arms for what felt like eternity, and waited for her tears to subside. When she pulled away to look up at me, I took her by one of her delicate hands and began to lead her to my bedroom.

"Roza, please… tell me what happened." My voice was practically pleading. I needed to know what was wrong, but more importantly I needed to know how to fix it. And you can never solve a problem, without all the facts.

We both sat down on the edge of my bed, and I truly took into account how her appearance was right now. Her hair was slightly tangled, her previous curls losing their bounce. She had make up streaming down her face, and her eyes were red and puffy. Her ripped shirt was falling slightly over her shoulder, revealing her lingerie outfit, which confirmed to me that she had come here straight from work.

"It…it was V-victor." She whispered, still trying to catch her breath from crying so much.

She looked down and lightly ran her fingers over the dark bruises that now covered her wrists. Then she pushed her hair aside and onto her back and touched a few places on her neck that also had bruises.

This made me pissed.

"DID HE HURT YOU ROSE?" I stood up in a very furious way, but I looked down at her with concern in my eyes so she could see that I wasn't angry with her. I was angry at whoever did this to her.

She shook her head and looked down at the floor. I heard her sniffle and I sensed that she was crying again.

I got down on my knees and kneeled in front of her, placing my body in between her legs. I lightly lifted her chin up so she was staring directly at me.

To see her like this, it absolutely broke my heart. Rose was such a strong individual and to see her so beat up about something really bothered me.

"I will never, ever, let anyone hurt you again. I promise you, Roza." I took one of her small hands into my own and leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the bruises that were covering her wrists.

I heard her breath hitch, because she was obviously not expecting this. However, her frown began to fade into a soft smile and I knew that she didn't mind it. So I took her other hand in mine and did the same thing, but this time I advanced my lips a little further.

I started out kissing only the bruises on her lips, but I slowly made my way up her arm, leaving a trail of kisses until I reached her neck. I pressed my lips lightly against the dark marks on her neck, near her jaw, hoping to take away some of the pain she had undergone tonight.

Glancing up at her, while keeping my lips around her jaw I saw her begin to relax. And better yet, she was clearly enjoying herself. She let out a soft sigh, and I watched her intently as she closed her eyes.

I was glad I was getting this reaction out of her. It made me feel good to be her current source of happiness after something so terrible had just happened to her.

After being gentle with her for a while, my hunger for her began to kick in. I slowly let my tongue slide down the length of her neck and then across her jaw line. My hands aggressively pulled her head closer to mine, and I began to suck and nibble on her neck. This also left bruises, but ones of a very different kind.

She let out a soft gasp, and I could tell she was starting to become just as turned on as I was. Which only seemed to excite me more. I pulled my mouth away from her neck, and took her head in between my hands.

I stared at her for a moment, admiring her natural beauty. We locked eyes, and I could see the flicker of lust and desire that was burning within her. We needed each other, anyone would be able to see that, clear as day.

Her eyes shifted from mine to look down at my lips, and I knew that this moment has been prolonged for far too long.

When our lips crashed together, I felt as if my whole world could have stopped right then and there, and it wouldn't have mattered to me much.

Our desire for each other was now getting the best of us, as our tongues met in the middle and began to fight for dominance. But there was absolutely no way I was letting her have it.

I picked myself up off my knees, and into a standing position, pulling Rose right up with me. I took extra care to make sure our mouths never came apart, and pulled her face closer as I rested one of my hands on the back of her head.

Feeling my erection growing larger by the second, I pressed my dick right up against her, letting her know that I was ready whenever she was. Even though I had every intention of dragging this on for as long as I possibly could.

She let out a soft moan against my lips, and brought our bodies even closer when she entangled her fingers in my hair. I broke the kiss only for a moment, to slip my hands underneath her shirt and bring it over her head.

My lips hungrily made their way off of hers, and trailed down her neck. I continued to kiss and suck down the middle of her chest until the fabric of her bra so rudely interrupted me. I quickly decided that needed to come off, so with one effortless motion I unclasped it and let it fall to the floor.

I then picked her up and laid her lightly on my bed, and I felt a huge grin makes it's way across my face. Rose reciprocated the grin, and grabbed me by the waistband of my pants and pulled me on top of her.

Since I hadn't put a shirt on after I got out of the shower, both of our chests were now bare and I was loving the feeling of them brushing against each other.

I could feel her nipples harden against me, which only tempted me to want to put my lips all over them. I carefully kissed my way down to her breasts, and lightly ran my tongue across each nipple, and then down to her belly button.

I felt her shiver slightly beneath my touch as I carefully cupped her right breast in my hand, leaving my right hand free to unbutton her jeans. My mouth once again enclosed her breast as I sucked on it gently, and teased her peak with my tongue.

Once I got her pants off we were both kneeling in front of each other on the bed. I pulled her close to me and softly whispered in her ear "I want you sooo bad Roza."

I felt her smile against the side of my face and I swear her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. Even though she had absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about, she was perfect.

"Well then Comrade, come and get me." She said playfully, biting her bottom lip.

She grabbed the top of my waistband again, and just as she was about to pull my pants down, my bedroom door swung open and Tasha stormed in.

**Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to update, but finals week was way worse than I thought it would be! For some reason I made this chapter from Dimitri's point of view only. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it though, because I find it very difficult to be a girl and try to write from a guy's perspective. So if you guys have suggestions on how I could make it better, I would love some advice! xoxo**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

"REALLY DIMITRI? YOU'RE FUCKING A MINOR?" Tasha screeched as she flung open the door of Dimitri's bedroom, and attempted to throw the papers I had filled out earlier into our faces. I had to admit, her words kind of stung a little, but I quickly retaliated.

"I was obviously giving him something that you couldn't" I said with a cocky grin on my face.

"What could you possibly have to offer him? You probably haven't even hit puberty yet." She glared at me through fierce and angry eyes. I felt bad in a way, but there was no way I was gonna let this bitch sit here and insult me. Not after the day I've had.

"Says the girl with small tits and no ass." I chuckled a little bit to myself, giving her a once over. Almost letting her think I was checking her out, but not in a good way.

She clearly had some self-esteem issues because I could instantly see her face getting redder by the second.

"Screw you, you little teenage slut. I'm sure the only reason he's with you is because you're easy." I resisted the urge to laugh incredibly loud and obnoxious at that comment. I had only been with one other person in my entire life, yet she thinks I'm an easy slut? Yeah, okay Tasha.

For the brief moment I thought about Mason, my heart began to ache. I know I really and truly cared about Dimitri, and that my romantic feelings for Mason might be gone. But I still missed my best friend… a lot.

"If you're done attempting to insult me, I suggest you leave. You kind of interrupted something. Unless you wanna stay and watch? Then be my guest. I'm sure you'll want to learn a few tricks, maybe then your next boyfriend won't cheat on you." I knew my insult was out of line, but at that moment, it's not like I really cared. She's the one who came in acting all crazy. Even though her boyfriend was about to fuck my brains out.

She grunted and let out an exasperated sigh. Then for the first time throughout this entire argument she addressed Dimitri. "You're a real dick, you know that? By the way, stripes are so not a good look on you. You better hope they give you one of those ugly orange jumpsuits instead." She gave both of us an evil grin and turned to leave.

I felt my face get hot, and just as she was out the door I sprang myself up off the bed and slammed his door shut, locking it just in case she decided to have another fit and come in here.

Glancing over at Dimitri, I tried to read his emotions, which turned out to be impossible. He sat on the edge of the bed with the bridge of his nose pinched between his index finger and thumb, obviously in deep thought.

"Hey," I said, plopping myself down next to him and placing my hand gently on his knee. "Everything is going to be okay. I won't let that trifling bitch put you in jail." I'm sure my words weren't all that comforting, but what did you expect? I didn't exactly have a very sensitive and emotional upbringing.

Dimitri just shook his head and continued to stare at the floor. He was really worried about what she had said. Granted, I probably would be worried to, had I been in his position. But I did mean what I said, I wasn't going to let Tasha ruin our lives.

I sat there, staring at him. Hoping that he would just look at me and smile one of those brilliant smiles of his and everything would go back to normal. But it didn't. And I spent the next couple minutes hoping that it would.

After a while, I got the hint. I figured maybe he just needed time to himself, to think things over a little bit. So I climbed off of the bed and walked over to where my bra was laying and hastily put it on. As I walked back over by him to pick up my underwear he firmly took hold of my arm.

"What are you doing Roza?" He looked up at me with his big, brown doe eyes, and his chestnut brown hair falling unevenly across his face. I felt myself melt all over again.

"I'm leaving… I thought you might want some alone time." I could barely stand to look at him now, only because the urge for me to hop into his arms and let him hold me wasn't going away. And I suddenly felt unwanted, and I hated that feeling. I used to feel it so much growing up, switching from foster home to foster home.

"I don't want you to go." He said in a husky voice as he pulled me in by my arm, allowing my body to be closer to his. He then took my belongings from my hands and set them on the floor. "Stay with me tonight Roza… please?"

"I thought you'd never ask." I gave him a shy smile and climbed over him to the other side of the bed. We both got underneath the covers and I immediately felt more at ease. Maybe it was the fact that he wanted me to be here with him. Maybe it was the fact that I was sharing a bed with a Russian God. Or, maybe it was the fact that I was laying on what felt like one million thread count bed sheets. I wasn't sure which one it was, but I was content.

Dimitri reached out to wrap his arm around me and I willingly complied. In a mere few seconds I was once again, melting in his warm embrace. It felt wonderful, and I'm sure my silly grin gave that away. I felt his lips lightly kiss my forehead, and in just a few minutes I had fallen into a much needed, deep sleep.

**Dimitri POV**

I hadn't got much sleep last night, for a number of different reasons. One, Tasha busting in on us just as Rose and I were about to completely give ourselves to each other. Two, she had then reminded me that Rose is indeed a minor and she certainly didn't hesitate to bring up the topic of prison. Which is obviously nowhere I wanted to end up. And three, all I wanted to do was watch Rose. She was so, so beautiful, even in her sleep.

She smiled slightly, and throughout the night I continued to listen to her soft breath and watch her chest slowly inhale and exhale. A plus to living in this apartment was the fact that east half of my living room was entirely made of windows. Large glass sheets went from floor to ceiling, making it an excellent place to stand and watch the sunrise. Especially since it overlooked Central Park as well. It was the main reason I had actually bought this place, and the fact that it was spacious enough to have a large photography studio inside too.

I looked at the alarm clock on my nightstand, and I estimated the sun would be coming up shortly. Lately I haven't had must interest in watching it, but this morning after everything that had happened yesterday, it seemed like such a good thing to do.

I carefully unwove my body from Rose's making sure I didn't wake her up. She needed her rest and I wasn't going to take that away from her. Even though this would have been a very romantic thing to do together.

Walking out of my room and into the kitchen, I began to make a pot of coffee. There was absolutely no way I was going to make it through the day without some.

When it was done, I poured myself a cup and made my way into the living room. I debated if I should sit down, but I decided against it. I walked right up to the window, and stood there to admire the beauty of the city that I lived in.

New York might not be the cleanest or quietest of cities, but nonetheless, it was still wonderful. I glanced down, and watched as an elderly couple went hand in hand into the entrance of Central Park. That of course, made me smile. That's what I hoped to have with Rose one day. An everlasting love. To be with her and love and cherish her until the day that I died.

I spent the next half hour or so admiring the sun coming up over the horizon. It was one of the most beautiful things I had seen in quite a while. It's bright orange and yellow hues, streaked with tiny bit of red and pink, made me want to rush over and find my camera so I could capture it's true beauty. But I remembered my beautiful sleeping Roza, and shrugged off the idea. There were plenty more sunrises to capture, I was sure of that.

It was now mid morning, and Rose was still fast asleep in my bed. I decided that it would be a good idea to go for a run. The weather was warm, but had a nice breeze that would cool me down if necessary. I slipped into my room again, and pulled out a pair of running shorts, a t-shirt and my running shoes without making a peep.

Jogging down the six flights of stairs as a warm up, I made my way out into the beautiful New York morning.

After running for a good hour or more, I decided to stop and grab some breakfast for Rose and myself. I stopped at the local bakery that had the best bagels and donuts around. I got a dozen of each, in a variety of flavors. I had no idea what Rose liked, and I wanted to make sure she ate.

I silently made my way back into my loft, just in case she was still sleeping. Even though I secretly hoped she wouldn't be, I was missing her tremendously. As I was about to open my bedroom door, I stopped, hearing her voice from inside.

She must have been on the phone, because I heard no other voices. But the next few words that came out of her mouth, almost made me drop the baked goods I just purchased all over the floor.

**Hehe another cliffhanger! Well, kinda. Thank you SO much to all the fabulous people who reviewed. I thought it was kind of funny, because I got some input back saying that you guys thought Tasha would break them up sooner. Well, I actually hadn't even thought about having her do that until the last possible second. So now I feel kind of like uhhhh duh, I'm clueless.**

**Anyway, a big shout out is necessary to deliciouse! Your review was awesome, and it definitely gave me some good ideas as to what I can add into the story in the future! Thank you so so much! You have no idea how much I appreciate it! Plus, anyone who is reading this should probably go check out her stories. I'm on chapter 10 in one of them, and it is amazing! (I planned on reviewing when I finished, just so you know :)**

**Thanks for reading guys, your continued support is really making this whole process quite fun for me! Don't forget to review! xoxo**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

I woke up, and for a moment I almost freaked out because I had forgotten where I was. I also happened to forget everything that happened yesterday. Only the bad parts though, not the good. I still remember everything that happened with Dimitri. How wonderful his kiss was, how his hot breath felt against my neck, and how the looks he had given me last night was enough to make my heart stop.

Frowning a little, I noticed that he wasn't in the bed next to me. Nor had he wrote a note, I discovered after searching his entire apartment for him. Maybe he went out for a walk or something, because it was beautiful out.

It was pretty late in the morning, and I cursed myself for sleeping so long. But I quickly decided that a shower was definitely necessary, so I hopped into his bathroom and started the water.

Dimitri's bathroom was massive. Not only did it have a stand up shower, but also a Jacuzzi style bathtub and twin sinks. It was really modernized, which surprised me.

After getting undressed, I hopped in the shower. I immediately felt all of yesterday's problems wash way, and it felt good. When I washed myself up, I found that all Dimitri had were soaps and shampoos that smelled super masculine. So I tried to use as little as possible so I didn't have the overwhelming odor of a man.

When I got out, I wrapped a towel around my body and another one around my hair and fixed it on the top of my head. For some reason as I walked around Dimitri's room, I couldn't help remember something Tasha had said. It was when she brought up me being easy and my thoughts once again shifted to Mason.

Since Dimitri wasn't home, and his cell phone was left on his bedside table, I decided that I was going to call him. I needed to call him. It took me a couple tries to remember his number by memory since I always had it programmed into my old phone. The one that I was forced to leave behind in Pennsylvania so they had no way of tracking me.

Finally, I heard his voice on the other end of the line. I had dialed the number privately so he wouldn't have Dimitri's cell number. That was a whole different issue that I would let come up at a later date.

"Hello?" Mason asked kind of confused.

I felt my heart jump a little, I was so happy to hear that it was him.

"Hi Mase." I spoke softly, not intentionally but I guess I was just a little bit nervous.

"Rose? Is that you?"

"Yes." I squeaked.

"Where are you? Where have been?" He genuinely sounded concerned, and I almost completely regret calling him. I could have just given him a chance to forget me, but no. I was selfish, and now I'm sure he was back in the position he was right when I left.

"Uh…I'm in New Jersey." I lied through my teeth. I felt awful, but knowing Mason he would find a way to track me down or something. And at this moment, I didn't want to be found.

"What? Why the fuck are you there?" As he spat out the words I was shocked. My Mason hated swearing, and tried to avoid it at all costs. However, I didn't really think much of it, because had I been in his position all this time, I would be screaming obscenities at me too.

"I needed to get away Mase. They were going to ship me off somewhere, and would have held me there until I turned eighteen."

"Oh so this is better? You still left me Rose, in case you didn't notice."

Ouch, his words hurt a little. But it was true. Why was this any different than being placed in someone else's foster care until I turned eighteen? Now that I was forced to think of the logic, I wanted to bang my head on something.

"I know Mason. I'm sorry okay? I was wrong. And I'll admit that. But I miss you so much, and I think about you all the time. Please don't be mad at me."

I could feel tears welling in my eyes. As much as I didn't want to cry, I couldn't force them from forming.

"Rose, you know I love you. I just wish you wouldn't have handled things this way. We could have worked something out, you know that right? Now, when are you coming home?"

"Mason, my birthday is still a month or so away. I can't come home yet. And I erg…found this job here. It pays really well, so I can't leave. Not yet. And my boss even said that he could try to transfer me once I got through all this training and stuff."

I had no idea where I was getting these lies from, and they would eventually come back to bite me in the ass. I just knew it. But I couldn't tell him the real reason why I needed to stay. Besides still being only seventeen, Victor had made sure that I was going to stay working for him for quite a long time.

"Rose… please. Just quit and come back to me. I can't stand being without you any longer. I'm miserable." I could hear the sadness in his voice, and I felt my tears starting to fall faster.

"Mason, I would do anything to be back there with you again. I need you just as much as you need me. But as soon as the time is right, I will come back to you okay? I love you, so much it's unreal."

The sad part about it though, was that I wasn't sure if I loved him the same way he loved me anymore. I knew he was still in love with me, but after these past couple weeks, I wasn't so sure my heart was still in it.

But I did honestly miss his friendship. He was the best friend I had ever had, and he was the only one who really understood me.

Just as we were about to say our goodbyes, I heard a rustling outside Dimitri's door. I quickly told Mason that I had to go, and opened the bedroom door.

Well that's weird. I swore I heard someone out there. I made my way into the kitchen, and found Dimitri unloading some food. Smiling, I made my way over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

**Dimitri POV**

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I refused to believe what I was hearing. Rose was confessing her love and admiration to another man. And I stood there the entire time and listened.

A rush of sadness, anger, jealousy and fury washed over me. I was feeling so many emotions at once I thought it was for certain that I would explode.

I noticed that their conversation was dwindling down, as the brown paper bag that held our food in slipped from my hands a little, causing the paper to rumple and make a noise.

Quickly, without hesitation I tip toed my way into the kitchen, and began to put the food away.

I wasn't going to let her know that I heard her, because honestly, there was no way I wanted to talk to her about this right now. I couldn't confront her about her feelings for another guy, especially since I had no idea what her true feelings were for me.

We had never openly discussed anything, so things were still up in the air. So it was certainly not my place to bring up their conversation.

Rose eventually came out of the bedroom, smiling of course and wrapped her arms around me.

It felt good for her to hold me, but I ignored those feelings and brushed them a side because of what had just happened. I couldn't allow myself to completely be in love with someone, if they were in love with someone else.

"I brought you some bagel and donuts. I wasn't sure which kind you would like." I held out the bag to her, and she opened it hungrily.

"Jesus, did you buy out the whole store?" She asked, wide eyed.

I took a large bite of a blueberry bagel that I had bought so I could avoid having conversation with her. I couldn't find the words to say, and I felt like even if I tried to say something, it would come out all wrong.

"I scheduled a shoot for you later." Which I had in fact did yesterday, even though I was sincerely regretting it right now.

"Well that's good right?" She gave me one of her big, man-eating smiles; the one that I had a horrible time resisting.

"Yes. I have some stuff to work on though. I'll be in my office if you need me."

I grabbed another bagel off of the counter and walked into my office, shutting the door behind me.

**Rose POV**

I was really hungry, especially after last night. But as I continued to take tiny bites out of the glazed donut Dimitri bought me I couldn't help but think that these were no longer hunger pains I was feeling.

I'm not sure what had happened, but it's like he suddenly started to act differently around me. I should have noticed it when he almost flinched when I put my arms around him.

My attempts to lighten the mood only seemed to put him at more of a distance.

He happened to mention the fact that we had a photo shoot later, which was good. Maybe if I left him alone now, we would work everything out later while we were shooting.

However, he hadn't told me anything about the photo shoot. What the theme was, or what clothes I needed to wear. So now I began to panic, what if I wore the wrong things and he got mad at me? Or worse, we had to cancel the entire thing.

I decided to stop being a big baby and just go ask him. That way, if I needed to go shopping, I had time.

When I reached his door, I tapped on it with my knuckles lightly.

"Come in." I heard his strong voice say.

I slowly opened the door and peeked my head in, not wanting to intrude on his privacy and completely walking in.

"I was just wondering… you never really told me what I needed to bring or wear tonight. For our photo shoot, I mean." My voice was barely above a whisper, and he didn't even take the time to look up from what he was doing.

He was completely avoiding me.

"I don't know what you'll be wearing." He said as he continued to scribble something down on a piece of paper. I stood there, not really sure what to do next, until I heard him speak again. "You'll have to ask your photographer." Without glancing up, he reached on his desk, pulled out a business card and held it in the air, signaling me to come get it from him.

"Thanks…" I barely managed to choke out before leaving his office, gathering my belongings and exiting his apartment building completely.

**I know this is not the direction that any of you wanted this to go in, but I have a very good reason for it. Or at least, I think I do. We will see how this all works out! Deliciouse, thank you again! You are wonderful, and your message really made me laugh. You could honestly make a living by predicting how my story will go, seriously lol. And thank you everyone else who has been reviewing, and keep it up! You guys are my motivation to keep this story going! xoxo**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

It took all the power within me to not look up at her beautiful face when she walked in. And it took all the powers greater than mine to be as harsh and cold as I was to her.

I felt awful about it, but I couldn't stand to be around her right now. And I probably wouldn't be able to stand being around her later either, which is why I decided to call my friend Christian.

After a long debate, he finally agreed to photograph Rose later today. He was one of the few employees I had, but he was damn good at what he did. And I know I could count on him to do just as good a job as I would have.

I took a quick glance at the calendar that hung on the wall next to my desk. I had scheduled two other shoots for today, one with a girl who has been trying to get her name into the big league business and then a family who comes every year for me to take pictures of themselves and their kids to see how much they've grown.

Looking down at my watch, I had about an hour and a half to prepare everything for Avery to arrive. She had mentioned the last time we met that she wanted to add some variety to her portfolio so of course today would be the day where she suggested I photograph her in her bathing suit.

I groaned to myself, because honestly, I would prefer not to be around any girls right now. Especially ones who were half naked, unless it was Rose.

Avery walked in a little after 2, followed by Christian. Rose was supposed to come at 3 so I'm sure he was here to set up early, just like I preferred him to. Nobody liked having to wait on the photographer, especially since some of the stuff took quite a while to put together.

Christian agreed that he would take the back corner of the studio, while I would take the front. He informed me that Rose had contacted him, and he told her to wear whatever. Since her portfolio was still so small, adding practically anything to it wouldn't hurt.

Avery came out of the dressing area wearing a navy blue string bikini, which in my opinion did not do her skin color any justice. It basically made her looked washed out, but it wasn't really my place to say. I was here to take the pictures, and make them look good. So I mentally made a reminder to add some more color to her skin back in the editing room.

Within a few minutes we were already taking some shots. Since most of Avery's dreams were to work with the big leagues such as Playboy or Maxim, she immediately started off doing sexy poses.

You could tell she was not new to this, because she knew exactly the right positions to place her body and she knew the exact facial expressions that corresponded with such positions. Most guys probably would be turned on by the sight of her, but not me. I've never been too interested in blondes, probably because all the woman I grew up around in Russia had all had very dark features. That made it significantly easier to shoot her, because there was no way I would be distracted by her.

Around ten minutes later, I heard the main studio doors close which signaled the fact that Rose was most likely here. I was still upset about before, but I wasn't one to hold grudges. And quite frankly, I missed being around her a little. I figured I would keep her after her photo shoot with Christian and maybe we could sort things out.

After Rose was done in the dressing room, she walked right past where Avery and I were working and I could tell from the look on her face that she was fuming.

**Rose POV**

When I left Dimitri's apartment, I was so upset I barely knew what to do with myself. I wandered around the city for a bit, not knowing where to go or what to do.

It wasn't until I remembered I had a photo shoot with Dimitri's co-worker later that I made up my mind to go shopping.

I made my way to almost every store on the block, before I eventually ran out of arms to hold all my bags on. I bought everything I could get my hands on, and I didn't even care. I had just spent most of the money I had earned from working at Sacrifice, so the apartment was going to have to hold off for a little bit longer.

When I got back to the hotel I had been staying at, I unloaded all my purchases and laughed to myself. I was definitely an emotional shopper. That had to be fixed or else I would be in debt for the rest of my life.

Most of the things I bought were just unnecessary items that I found looked cute on the rack, or looked even better on me.

I was then faced with another dilemma. What should I wear to my photo shoot?

Pulling out the business card that Dimitri gave me earlier; I dialed the number that was engraved on it. The guy introduced himself as Christian and basically told me I could wear whatever I wanted, which I was completely okay with.

After contemplating my decisions for well over an hour, I grabbed a bunch of different things and quickly threw them in a bag. Because I knew if I didn't leave now, I would most definitely be late.

When the taxi dropped me off, I let out a long sigh as I hopped out. Normally, I would be ecstatic to be here, but I couldn't possibly be happy now, not when Dimitri wasn't talking to me.

I took the elevator to the sixth floor, not bothering to try and haul all my shit up those stairs. Slowly, I opened the door, crossing my fingers and hoping that I wouldn't run into him. Even though another part of me secretly wanted to.

After not seeing anyone, I figured that I should get changed and head into the studio since that is most likely where Christian was.

I slipped into a pair skin tight, blue jean shorts that most likely barely covered my ass cheeks, but did wonders for my legs. And then I put on an embroidered green top with a pretty pattern on the front. I had already curled my hair into loose, waves and applied just the right amount of make up. I put on a few bracelets that I thought went well with my outfit, and then a pair of brown strappy sandals.

Making my way into the studio, I heard a girl giggle. My heart dropped directly down into my stomach, and I nearly stopped in my tracks. I listened further, trying to make my footsteps as silent as possible. Next, I heard a girl who sounded ditzy and annoying as hell, which immediately brought the urge upon me to strangle someone. Or myself, I wasn't sure which was the best idea yet. I was dreading the voice that I knew I would hear next. And sure enough, he spoke in his loud, booming, Russian voice.

I refused to let anyone get the best of me though, so as I made my way into the studio I passed Dimitri and the girl with the super annoying voice. I glared at her, and then my gaze shifted to him. The girl looked exactly as her voice had sounded. Medium length, straight as a board, blonde hair with dark brown undertones. Didn't she know how trashy that made her look? She also had fake tan skin, which was very visible seeing as all she had on was a tiny, skimpy bikini.

Internally, I was screaming. I was also lunging at her, and clawing her pretty little eyes out. She should not be working with Dimitri, I should be. The jealousy I felt inside me was absolutely overwhelming, yet I didn't let it show.

I put my fiercest face on, and walked over to Christian, smiling from ear to ear. I made sure that my introduction was loud enough for Dimitri and the dumb blonde to hear. I wanted to ensure that they knew they weren't the only ones who were allowed to have fun around here.

**Short-ish chapter, I know. But I'm tired, and couldn't really put my mind into it anymore.**

**And just a question, but have any of you reading this ever watched the TV series 'True Blood'? I just started the series today, and I wanted to know what some of your opinions on it were. If you watch it, let me know! And don't forget to review! xoxo**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

I had to force myself to turn around to see what the hell was going on back there and why in the world Rose was suddenly being overly outgoing and quite frankly, kind of obnoxious.

She seemed to be laughing at every little thing Christian said, and of course adding her own jokes into the conversation.

Turning back to Avery, I growled behind my camera and prayed that this day would go by a little quicker.

I needed to talk to Rose, and I needed to make things right with her. I couldn't stand the separation and distance between us. There was a reason I cared for her so much, so I couldn't let either of our stubbornness get in the way.

After a couple minutes, I saw Rose practically skipping by and head back to the dressing areas.

In my opinion, they seemed to shoot pretty fast. But naturally, Rose was good at whatever she happened to be doing. So I wasn't that worried about it. Besides, it was her portfolio, not mine. Even though I wanted to build hers up to be amazing so she could get all the best offers the world had to offer.

But Christian was her photographer today, and I trusted him and his judgment. So I focused my attention back on Avery.

I continued to snap a few shots of her, until something else caught my eye.

It was a half-naked Rose.

**Rose POV**

I didn't mean to necessarily be flirty with Christian, but most of the time that's how my niceness was perceived. Even though, he was rarely flirting back. He kept his attitude strictly business, most likely because Dimitri intimidated him. But really, who wouldn't he intimidate?

Pose after pose, Christian continued to shoot me doing whatever I wanted. And he used the same compliments Dimitri had given me the first time we shot. I thought all photographers were supposed to be unique in that kind of way? I guess not.

I caught Dimitri looking in our direction after I had laughed almost a little too obviously. I pretended like I didn't see him though, even if all I wanted to do was run across the studio into his big, welcoming arms.

After Christian said we had enough shots in the current outfit I was wearing, I decided to head back to the dressing area to put on my next one.

Even though the next one, consisted of practically nothing. I quickly plugged my straightener into the closest outlet and began to strip off my clothes.

Once I had all them off I slipped on a small pair of plain black panties, which covered just the right amount of skin in the front, and nearly not enough skin in the back.

When my hair straightener was hot enough, I straightened all the curls out of my hair very quickly, which definitely added some length to my hair. That precisely, was the point.

After I was content with how my hair looked, I went to my bag and pulled out a bottle of baby oil that I frequently used when I was at the beach and trying to get a killer tan.

I started rubbing it all over my legs, and then my thighs. Since my crotch area was covered, I avoided putting any there. And then I made sure to put an extra amount around my stomach, and then covering my boobs. I finished with my arms, and when I looked at myself in the mirror, my tan, half-naked body seemed to be glistening.

Checking myself out, one last time, I moved all of my hair so it was covering my nipples, but still showed just the right amount of skin around my boobs.

I slipped on my pair of black, high heels that I 'borrowed' from the first night I worked at Sacrifice. I knew this was the final touch to my outfit, and I knew I looked hot.

If Dimitri thought I looked hot before, I couldn't wait until he saw me now.

Once I was out of the dressing room, I made sure to walk extra slow as I passed Dimitri and Avery. I made a quick glance towards the pair as I casually strolled by, and noticed something in Dimitri's eyes. Actually, it was more than just something. There was lust, and jealousy, and even a hint of anger forming in them. Which is exactly what I had wanted.

If he didn't want to photograph me, then fine. But that didn't mean I was going to hold back just because I was shooting with someone else.

Besides, he clearly already had his hands full with Avery. Which still aggravated me to no end, but like I said before, I wasn't going to let him know that.

When I approached Christian, he had to do a double take. Which almost made me laugh a little bit. His eyes looked ready to bulge out of his head, but he quickly put on a serious face.

I wasn't sure if he did that because Dimitri told him about us, or if he did it simply because it wasn't very appropriate, or professional of him to start drooling while he was taking pictures of me.

We took lots of shots, and I knew that there had to be quite a few that were good enough to be published somewhere, even though that's not what I wanted. I had no intention of being a sex symbol for any magazine, TV show, or movie.

My plan was to model clothing, and work in high fashion. Somewhere that showered me with wonderful designer jeans, and handbags. I wanted to be seen as something beautiful, not as a piece of meat that men wanted to jack off to.

I heard Avery leave and go into the dressing area, most likely to put on another outfit or get ready to leave all together. I wasn't sure which, but I was thoroughly surprised when Dimitri came over to where Christian and I were shooting and stood there watching.

I met his glance, and smirked. I knew he was probably mad at me, for wearing so little. But I also knew how he was having a hard time controlling himself, in more than one way if you know what I mean.

"10 more frames to go Rose." Christian gave me the warning, and with both him and Dimitri's eyes upon me, I started to become a little daring. Maybe a little too daring, but a tad bit of recklessness never hurt anybody.

I slid my fingers into the sides of the skimpy underwear I was wearing, and slowly pulled them down a little bit. They were well off my hip, and if you turned me around I was damn sure that you would get a full on view of my ass. Luckily, the way that I was standing disabled anyone from seeing anything in the front.

The camera continued to snap, so I continued to perform. My poses becoming sexier and more provocative by the second. I could see emotion growing in Dimitri, his fists were clenched and his jaw was tight. The second Christian said that we were done, I ran off to get changed, I wasn't sure I wanted to face Dimitri just yet.

**Dimitri POV**

After I ran out of film with Avery, I sent her home and told her to call me on Monday so we can schedule another appointment at a later date.

With my long, forceful strides I made my way over to where Rose and Christian were shooting.

When I saw her, I was in complete shock. I couldn't figure out if I wanted to yell and scream at her for acting this way, or punch Christian's lights out for actually agreeing to film her. Then there was also the idea in my mind that I wanted to tell Christian to leave, lock the door behind him and have my way with Rose all night.

I knew she sensed the tension, because she smirked and I knew it was directed at me, and not the camera. When Christian told her that they didn't have many frames yet, I let out a sigh of relief. Thank God that this was almost over with.

Then out of absolutely nowhere, Rose decided that it was okay to pull her underwear down even further. This nearly sent me off the deep end. It took every ounce of patience in me to remain cool, calm and collected. I couldn't be unprofessional with Christian in the room, and I especially didn't want him to know that Rose and I were breaking the dreaded rule of mixing business with pleasure.

I kept my fists clenched, forcing all my anger into them. At one point I thought my knuckles were going to bulge right out of the skin. And then they ran out of film.

Rose ran off immediately, and I can only guess why. I would not want to be near me right now either.

I quickly thanked Christian, and helped him effortlessly pack his stuff up, urging him to move a little bit faster. But I just told him it was because I had places to be. Then I told him to send all of his film to me, and I would look through it. Simply because Rose was normally my client, I just didn't have time to shoot her myself today.

Once he was out the door I locked the door, and stormed towards the dressing area. I yanked open the curtain to Rose's dressing room, and to my surprise, she wasn't there.

I turned around however, and saw her leaning against the doorframe. Still wearing what she had on for her last photo shoot.

"Eat your heart out, Comrade." Is all she said, with that sexy smile enveloping her entire face.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING ROSE?" Was all I managed to spit out, even though there was actually much more I would prefer to say right now.

I couldn't manage to control my anger, and grabbed one of the plastic fold up chairs that was seated near the dressing area and threw it into the studio. Thankfully missing everything expensive and important, and hopefully leaving no scuffmarks on the wooden floor either.

"Modeling of course. Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you have a photo shoot?" She knew that acting this way would only make me angrier, yet she continued to do it anyway. In a way, I liked it. Only because she wasn't the type of girl to just tell me what I wanted to hear, just to get on my good side again.

"Rose. You are seventeen goddamn years old and you stood there, half naked, in front of one of my friends, and let him take pictures of you. That was completely unnecessary and you know it." I started to calm down, but barely. I didn't want to scare her away; I just wanted to get my point across.

"Oh so Avery can be half naked in front of you, but God forbid if I show some skin in front of ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPHER. YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DIDN'T WANT ME, DIMITRI." I could sense I hit a soft spot in her. Her face lit up and was starting to turn red, definitely signifying her anger.

"Is that what this is about? You're mad because I was shooting with Avery? That's why you wanted to do this? To get back at me?"

"No." She said sternly as she took a long breath in. "That bitch doesn't have a damn thing on me."

I walked a little closer to her, softening my facial expressions as I did so. "No one will ever compare to you, my Roza."

Her face formed in a smile again, and I knew that I had said the right thing. I didn't want to fight anymore, especially not about this. What's done is done, and it's useless to try to change anything anymore.

I looked down on her, and raised her chin up so she was looking at me. Our eyes bore into each other which such an intense, fiery passion. I slid my hand down to her neck, leaned down, and put my face close to hers.

"I love you, Roza." My voice was soft, and tender almost at a whisper. It was much different than the one that I had used not too long ago. I held my breath, waiting for a response. That's all I wanted right now, was to hear her say those three simple words. That was it. And I knew I'd be devastated if she didn't

"I love you too." She kept her eyes, focused into mine. And then our lips met, in a sensual, wonderful kiss. We pressed our lips into each other's like our lives were depending on it. I couldn't force myself to pull away, even if I tried. I wanted this, and I wanted all of her. I lifted her up as she wrapped her legs around my waist, and I carried her into my bedroom.

**Hope you all liked it! Reviews and any feedback would be great xoxo**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

Carrying Rose into my bedroom on a normal day seems like a pretty easy task. Carrying Rose into my bedroom on a day when she is almost completely naked, covered in gallons of baby oil, is not as easy as it looks.

Not only that, but as I struggled to keep a hold of her, I happened to think about my bed sheets. They would be ruined, and to be completely honest, those damn bed sheets were the best part of my bed.

So after walking into my room, I carried her a little farther into the bathroom.

We continued to make out the entire time she was in my arms, each of our tongues were desperate to be in control of the other. Once we were in the bathroom, I easily set her down onto the bathroom counter.

As much as I didn't want to be the one to break away from the kiss, I quickly turned to the shower, and adjusted the faucet to just the right temperature. Turning back to Rose, I returned my lips back to hers in a hungry, and forceful manner.

I wanted her, and I was going to get her. There would be no interruptions this time. Not if I could help it.

I felt her lips turn into a grin behind our kiss as I grabbed onto her bare hips and pulled her close to me, pressing my hard erection against her. One of her hands drifted to the bottom of my shirt, letting her fingers lightly graze the skin underneath. Her other hand found its way in my hair, her fingers tangled around a few strands, and tugged on them tightly.

"You've got way too many clothes on for my liking, Comrade." Rose smirked as she whispered, and fingered with the bottom of my shirt, signaling me to take it off. I quickly obliged, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

Then I began to trail kisses from her jaw, down to her collarbone and then against her neck. I nuzzled my face in the crook of her neck started sucking on her skin softly, letting my tongue slide against it every so often. My breath hitched as I felt Rose reach for the top of my pants and effortlessly unbutton them and slowly sliding down the zipper, letting my pants fall below my knees.

Her hands ran up and down my chest, feeling every outlined muscle of my pects and abdomen. When she made her way to the area just below my bellybutton, her pressure increased and her hands began to rub against me harder. This caused my mouth to worker quicker, and rougher against her neck. I sucked on her skin harder, definitely leaving a few marks. And occasionally I would nip at her skin, light enough so I wouldn't hurt her, but hard enough for her to enjoy it. And after hearing her let out a soft moan, I knew she liked it.

I let my hands slip down her body, grasping the only article of clothing she had on; her underwear. I pulled away from her neck, and gazed down at her with a big smile upon my face as I quickly slid them past her hips, down her legs and completely off.

She reciprocated a smile, and quickly hopped off the counter. Her fully naked body was now pressed against mine, and I could practically feel the heat radiating off of us. Standing on her tiptoes, she leaned in to kiss me, but only momentarily. Her lips worked her way down my chest and my stomach, and the closer she got to my cock, the harder she sucked. When she reached the edge of my boxers, she lightly ran her fingers against my manhood, causing it to become harder, if that was even possible. And that's when I realized this was the closest we had been to having sex.

Eventually the teasing stopped, and she slipped her fingers into the elastic waistband and slid them down to my feet and I then stepped out of them. Her eyes got bigger, which led me to believe that she hadn't realized that I was this big.

Before she stood up back to my level, she lightly kissed the tip of my cock and gave me a teasing smile. She then took my hand and led me into the shower that I had prepared for us.

We both slowly stepped underneath the water, letting it flow all around our bodies. I pulled Rose close to me, and our mouths met again. My hands made it's way up to her breasts, and I squeezed each one, pinching each erect nipple gently. Our kiss began to get heated, and I felt Rose reach out and grasp my cock. It took me off guard, so I grunted a bit before I relaxed, and let her steady hand motions soothe me. After a few minutes of simply stroking, and massaging me with her palms she pulled away and dropped down to her knees. I gave her a huge grin because I knew what was coming next.

She started off slow, letting her tongue lick my entire length up and down. Then she took only my tip in her mouth, letting her tongue circle and swirl around it. I groaned, and placed one of my hands against the shower wall and another one forcefully on her head, tangling my fingers in her long, silky hair. She kept her eyes gazing up at me the entire time, which only seemed to turn me on more.

Once she had half of my cock in her mouth, she used her hands to pump up and down the rest of my shaft and the other one to gently massage my balls. Her mouth took in as much as she could handle, letting my cock slide down her throat as far as possible. She continued to suck, and the longer she sucked, the harder she got.

She hummed against me, and the vibrations from her throat nearly pushed me to the edge. I felt my cock twitch in her mouth, and my eyes closed, awaiting my release. She must have felt it too, because after giving me a few more forceful sucks, she took me out of my mouth and into both of her hands. She worked me fast, and hard. Her hands pumped effortlessly up and down my cock, and the feeling felt amazing.

"That's it Roza…" I said in a hushed tone, gripping onto her hair harder than before. It only took her a few more minutes, before my cum came shooting out. She gladly opened her mouth, and accepted it, making sounds along the way that let me know she really enjoyed it.

When I was done, and she licked me clean, I pulled her back up against me.

Without giving her barely any time to catch her breath, I forced my mouth upon hers once again. I traced her lips with my tongue, before she opened up her mouth and allowed me in. I massaged my tongue roughly against hers and lightly sucked on her bottom lip. Feeling myself getting excited again, I pushed her up against the shower wall, letting my hard cock press into her stomach.

"Please…fuck me Dimitri…" she softly said in-between breaths, and I smirked because I wasn't going to let her have it that easily.

I turned her completely around, so that now her ass was against me. I let my hand slide down her wet body, and stopped at her clit. I began to rub it in slow, circular motions. Her body shivered underneath my touch, which only made me want to please her more. I let one of my fingers gently massage her folds, barely slipping in. I continued to tease her as I positioned the showerhead so that it was pointing directly at her core. She gasped at the feeling of the hard water pressure against her, and I quickened the movement of my fingers. I rotated my fingers against her clit in short, quick motions, occasionally letting a finger fully slip into her.

"Oh-h-h Dimit-tri…" she cried out, and I felt her body go limp against mine. I leaned in and kissed her neck softly before quickly turning her around to face me again.

"I'm not even done yet, Roza." I smirked at her, and picked her up as I pushed her body against the wall. Her face was glowing, and she caught on, and wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.

Dripping wet, I carried her out of the shower and once again towards the bedroom. I laid her down lightly against the sheets, and hovered my body completely over hers. She stared up at me with her gorgeous dark eyes, and I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the feelings that she gave me. No one had ever made me feel this way, and I was certainly going to prove that to her tonight.

I leaned down and laid a soft kiss upon her lips, and grabbed both of her hands, placing them above her head and intertwined our fingers. She looked up at me with a hungry gaze, and the love that filled our kiss soon turned to passion.

When the time was right, I slowly entered her. Her eyes closed and her jaw dropped slightly as she adjusted to the feeling of me inside her. After she relaxed a little, my movements began to increase in force and in speed. I let my cock slide in and out of her in quick motions, putting all my strength behind my thrusts.

"Yesssss…oh..my…God…yes!" she cried out, as her finger nails dug deep into my broad shoulders and back. Her breathing increased, and I could tell she could barely control her moaning.

I continued to pump in and out of her, gripping onto her hips to allow myself to slide further in. The louder she was, the harder I went, her screams only encouraging me to please her even more. Our bodies rocked in similar motions, practically in sync with one another. The bed creaked beneath us, and the backboard noisily hit the wall behind us. It was at that moment I thanked God I didn't have any neighbors.

When I felt her walls tighten against me, I sped up yet again. I slammed my cock into her hard, pulled out completely, and slammed it into her again. I felt myself become ready to cum, so I quickly pulled out of her and was immediately met by her mouth. She leaned in close to me and stuck her tongue out and opened her mouth wide, allowing herself to taste me for the second time tonight.

Once I knew I was finished, I pushed her back down on the bed and spread her legs open. I crawled in between them, and slowly began to rub and kiss the insides of her thighs. My fingers lightly grazed the skin around her pussy, and I felt her becoming excited all over again.

I then lightly started to lick her folds. My tongue slid up to her clit, and I enclosed my mouth around it. I sucked on it gently, and continued to use my tongue to form small circles around it. Her hands came down on my head, and her fingers desperately gripped onto my hair.

"You taste sooo good Roza." I mumbled against her, before plunging my tongue directly into her. My mouth sucked on her hard, and I let my tongue massage every part of her. I heard her whimper, and body quivered slightly, so I knew I had pleased her once again.

I lifted my body up so our faces were close together again.

"I love you." My smile was most likely taking up my entire face. I didn't think it was possible to be any happier than I was at this moment.

"I think you're gonna love me a whole lot more after this." She replied with a quick grin and the next thing I know, Rose is on top, straddling me.

**Sorry it took so long for me to write this! It's been a busy couple of days! Hope it was worth the wait though ;) review if you'd like! xoxo****************************************************************************************************************************  
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	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

Dimitri had just given me my second, or maybe third orgasm of the night. At this point, I had lost count. Even after everything we have done so far, I still wasn't ready to be done. My body couldn't get enough of him, and it craved for more.

So when he was least expecting it, I rolled him over, and sat on top of him, my legs straddling his hips. From the grin on his face, I knew he was enjoying the view. And I'm sure in a couple minutes; it would get a whole lot better.

I leaned down and as I was about to give him a light peck on the lips, I began to grind my hips against him. Instantly, I felt his huge cock grow against me.

"You excited to see me or something, Comrade?" I bounced around on him a little, while secretly testing the beds bounciness. He looked like a kid in a candy store the way his eyes lit up.

I pressed my tits right against his bare chest, and leaned my forehead directly on his. I felt his large hands upon my back, their roughness complimenting my smoothness. Leaning down to kiss him, I noticed his hands slowly slide their way down to my ass. He squeezed it, and I couldn't help but get turned on again.

Our kiss intensified, as our tongues roamed around each other's mouths yet again. I swear I could never get sick of this. Dimitri had to be the best kisser on planet earth.

His cock began to press against me even harder now, and I grinned at him before slowly sliding myself down on him. It hurt a little, but I knew that the pleasure I would feel once I got used to his large size would completely diminish the pain.

Once he was in me as far as I could take it, I started to bounce up and down on him. His hands held my hips as he guided me against him, adding a few of his own thrusts into my motions. After I got a good rhythm going, he moved his hands to my breasts. His larges hands completely overtook them, covering every square inch of skin. He knew just the right way to grab them and squeeze them, sending shivers throughout my entire body.

The quicker my motions became, the heavier both our breathing became. The room was filled with the sounds of our exasperated breaths, and the sound of our bodies clapping and coming together as one.

I leaned down, close to Dimitri's face and slowly began to move only the lower half of my body. I lifted my ass up and down, which easily allowed his dick to slide in and out of me without much effort on my part. We continued this motion, speeding up, and slowing down, helping each other experience the purest form of bliss.

We kissed each other desperately, as if it were the last time we'd ever get to do it. Our hands needling explored each other's bodies, searching for anything to set us over the edge.

And finally after riding him for quite sometime, I felt myself being overtaken by a feeling of complete ecstasy. My body relaxed, and I felt myself fall into Dimitri's warm arms.

I crawled over onto the side of the bed next to him and slipped under the sheets. Once I was comfortable he pulled me in close to him, and just stared at me. Almost like I was the most precious thing he has ever seen.

If it was anyone else but Dimitri, I'd probably be creeped out. But I allowed myself to accept, and enjoy the fact that he cared so deeply for me.

"What?" I asked, giggling a little bit. He shook his head, almost as if to clear the trance he was in.

"You're just the most amazing woman I have ever met."

I felt the color start to rise in my cheeks, and I leaned in towards him and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. It wasn't anything like our previous kisses tonight. It was simple, and tender, yet so full of love.

"You're not so bad yourself, Comrade." We both laughed, and cuddled together. Our limbs intertwined, and our bodies were as close as they could get.

The day may have started off a little rough, but this night made it all worth it. I wasn't sure that anything else could ever compare to this moment right now, and I'm not sure how long we laid together, in such close proximity to each other. But all I can remember, is I fell asleep smiling.

**Tasha POV**

I knew what I was about to do was risky. But honestly, what other choices did I have?

Quickly and quietly, I made my way up the six flights of stairs that lead to Dimitri's studio. I was sure that he wasn't awake yet, but there was no reason for me to be louder than I needed to be, just in case he wasn't in that deep of a sleep.

When I reached the door to the entrance, I lightly pressed my ear up against the door to listen for any movement that might have been going on behind it.

To my relief, I heard nothing.

I pulled out my key ring and effortlessly found the one that unlocked the door. As quietly as I could I stuck the key into the hole, and turned it as far as it would go.

Hearing the click of the door unlocking, I let out a long sigh of relief.

I was in.

Now all I needed to do was find the paperwork I had thrown at them the other day and I would be in the clear.

I tip toed inside and made my way into Dimitri's office. Surprisingly, it wasn't locked. Even though I swear he always made sure that it was. Maybe it was my lucky day.

Making my way into his office, I shut the door behind me, leaving it open just a bit. I didn't want him to hear me making any noise, but I also didn't want to completely close it so I wouldn't be able to hear him in case he decided to come in.

I began to search through a stack of papers that were on his desk. I slowly fingered every sheet of paper, making sure I didn't miss a single thing.

That turned out to be a big fail. Now I was going to check his computer. I figured that maybe since I had crumbled the shit out of the original papers, that maybe he had the information stored somewhere in his computer and I could just print myself off a new copy.

If only it were that easy.

I raided every file on his desktop, and found absolutely nothing. Didn't he believe in the digital age? Everything was supposed to be computerized!

Suddenly, I jumped. A loud ding came from Dimitri's computer, and another window popped open. A new e-mail from Christian.

That wasn't the part that interested me however. It wasn't until I scanned the subject line that I became giddy with excitement. It said three simple words that at this moment may have just made my life.

It read 'Rose's Photo shoot', so of course I clicked the e-mail open as soon as I realized what was inside.

I downloaded all 200 pictures onto Dimitri's computer, and once they were all ready for me to see I began to look through them.

The first one hundred frames were useless to me. They consisted of that stupid little whore attempting to look good in quite possibly the ugliest outfit I had ever seen. Did this girl have no fashion sense at all?

But as I came to picture number one hundred and one, I giant grin crept across my face. This is exactly what I needed.

I printed off a few of the raciest pictures in the bunch, and turned to my next target; the filing cabinet.

It didn't take me long to find her file, and I was overcome with joy when I pulled out the wrinkled sheets of paper that had all the information I needed in order to get her away from my man.

After spending a good amount of time covering my tracks, I slipped my evidence into my purse and made my way out of Dimitri's office. Sneaking quietly through the rest of his apartment/studio, I walked past his bedroom and allowed myself to peak in.

Instantly I regret it, as soon as I noticed he wasn't the only one in bed. There was a dark haired girl tangled in the sheets next to him, and you could easily tell that they were both naked since their clothes were strewn across the floor.

I let out a low growl and furiously made my way back to the door I came in at. I took the stairs two at a time, and when I was completely out of the building I walked across the street to Central Park.

Pulling out my smart phone, I dialed the information number and was quickly directed to the NYPD non-emergency line. I set up a meeting with one of the lead lieutenants, and hopped in the first taxi I could find.

After presenting the police department with all the information I felt was necessary, I walked out of the offices with a smug smile on my face.

If I couldn't have Dimitri, then nobody can.

**Dimitri POV**

I thought I might have been dreaming, but when I woke up and I still heard the pounding, I quickly got out of bed.

Trying my best not to wake up Rose, (even though I had no idea how she could sleep with all this noise anyway), I slipped out of bed and threw on my boxers that lie on the floor in the same place they were taken off of last night.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and squinted at all the light that my windows were letting in.

As soon as I opened the door, I almost wish I hadn't. I knew why they were here, and there was certainly no way of escaping this.

"Dimitri Belikov, you are under arrest for possession of child pornography, and for rape in the third degree." The officer said with a stern voice as he pulled his handcuffs off of his belt.

I turned around and brought my hands behind my back, not bothering to put up a fight. I knew that would only make my case worse in the end.

Before they could lead me out the door I caught sight of something in my peripheral vision. Rose was wandering out of my bedroom, wrapped in only my bed sheet. I prayed to God that no one noticed her, and I gave her a hard look, trying to signal her to stay put.

She either refused, or didn't catch on. Because the last thing I saw before I was carted away, was Rose being approached by the arresting officer, and the look on her face as he spoke to her in a hushed tone, didn't look good.

**Sorry it took so long for me to update! This holiday season has been so busy, it's crazy! But thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far, and to all the shy people out there who simply just subscribe/favorite my story or add me to your list of favorite authors! Regardless of what you do, it still means a lot 3**

**And just to clarify some things – in the state of New York, the consent age is indeed 17. However, it is considered rape in the third degree if the person who the seventeen year old has sex with is over 21, which Dimitri obviously is.**

**At least, this is the information I picked up after reading a few things online. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.**

**AND nobody get their panties in the bunch, this isn't the end of Dimitri and Rose ;)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

I woke up suddenly when I felt the weight on the bed change. My eyes fluttered open, and it took me a minute to take in my surroundings. Sitting up against the headboard, I realized I was no longer in the grungy hotel room that I had been residing in for the past couple weeks. I was in Dimitri's bedroom.

This thought led to a flashback of last night. I thought about Dimitri and I being together for the first time. The way that everything had been absolutely perfect, and he was phenomenal at what he did in every single way. I let out a long sigh and flopped back on to the bed, letting the pillows and comforter take over my entire body.

My wonderful thoughts of last night were then interrupted as I heard loud voices and stomping noises echo throughout the studio. I was confused, yet intrigued and seriously wanted to know what was going on. I pulled Dimitri's loose sheet off of his bed and wrapped it around my naked body.

I peeked my head around his bedroom doorframe, and saw a cop fastening a pair of handcuffs around Dimitri's wrists. I felt my chest go tight and I strained my ears to listen to what they were saying to him.

Child pornography. Rape. The only three words I needed to hear.

Completely forgetting that I was in only a sheet, I made my way out of the threshold of the bedroom. The cop who had read Dimitri his Miranda rights and put him under arrest then approached me.

"May I ask who you are young lady?" He pulled out a notepad and a pen, seemingly looking like he was about to take notes.

"I'm Dimitri's friend." I simply replied. I had never been in this sort of situation before, so I wasn't really sure how to act.

"And does Dimitri's friend have a name?"

At that moment I wanted to lie. I wanted to pretend I was someone else, but my guilty conscious got the best of me.

"Rose. Rose Hathaway." I felt the sheet slightly droop a little, so I adjusted it quickly before I could give anyone in this room a peep show.

The cop then ushered for one of his co-workers to come over to where we were located. He took a manila envelope from his hands and pulled out a couple of pictures.

"Are you the one in these photographs Ms. Hathaway?"

I gulped, and tried to remain calm. Nodding my head slightly, I turned away from the cops. I had never been shy in my life, but having these men see me with hardly any clothes on and in quite provocative positions, made me more than just embarrassed. I felt seriously humiliated.

"I'm going to need you to come down to the station."

My stomach was instantly in knots. I had no idea what to do, or what to expect. All I did know that Dimitri was in this situation because of me. I was the one who flaunted my body in front of him at the club. I was the one came to him, desperately wanting to get out of the field that I had gotten myself into. I was the one who got him to cheat on his spiteful girlfriend. And I was the one who did everything in my power to make him want me yesterday during the photo shoot. Everything was my fault.

"Let me go put some clothes on." I barely choked out. I fought back the tears as much as I could. But once I was in the safety of Dimitri's room, they started to easily flow down my cheeks. I don't think I could ever forgive myself if I didn't get Dimitri out of this situation.

I quickly pulled on an appropriate outfit from yesterday, and headed back towards the front of the studio. The cops ushered me into the back of a cop car, which let me tell you is probably the most uncomfortable situation I had ever been put in.

I felt like a convict or some kind of criminal. I felt wrong, and almost dirty in a way for even having to sit in the back of a cop car. I could only imagine what was going on in Dimitri's head right now.

Once we made it to the station, I was led into a tiny questioning room. I'd seen them on TV shows, but I never imagined they would be this tiny, or simple. There was barely any lighting, and in the middle of the room there was a small table with an uncomfortable looking chair on each side.

The cop signaled me to take a seat, and then offered me a cup of coffee. I gladly accepted it, because I knew if I hadn't of taken this giant cup of wonderful caffeine, there would be no way I could make it through this day. Besides, I figured if I got something in my stomach, it would help calm my nerves a little.

Boy, was I wrong. As soon as the cop gave me the coffee, he sat down across from me and opened a file. He stared at me for a few brief seconds before he began to fire his questions at me.

"So Ms. Hathaway, tell me, how do you know Mr. Belikov?"

"I work for him. I have been for a couple days."

"And when you say, you work for him, do you mean he photographs you?"

"Well, not necessarily him. Yesterday his co-worker took pictures of me. The ones you showed me earlier of myself were actually taken by him."

He seemed to ponder my response, which is what I had been hoping for. The only pictures Dimitri had taken of me had been where I was fully clothed, which looked better for him. I felt bad throwing Christian under the bus, but if it were between him and Dimitri going to jail, I would pick Dimitri every time. Even though I really doubt Christian knew I was underage. Another wave of sadness flooded through me.

The cop took some notes and then spoke again. "So if his co-worker was the one who took pictures of you yesterday, what were you doing half-exposed in Mr. Belikov's apartment this morning?"

"He let me stay the night. I've been having some problems at work, and he offered to let me stay in his apartment. Sort of like for protection." I lied.

"And did you and Mr. Belikov engage in any sexual activities while you were living under his roof?"

This was the question I was dreading to hear. I didn't want to tell him the truth, but I would have felt bad if I lied. Plus, I wasn't sure what Dimitri had said, so I began to panic.

"No, we didn't." I had decided this was the best option. They couldn't exactly prove what we did or didn't do last night, so I went with it.

"Uh-huh. Well, we were under the impression that that was the case."

"With all due respect Sir, I'm not sure who your sources are, but I can assure you that nothing happened. And I would really like to know what sort of proof you have that we did have sex."

The cop looked stunned by my words, but really, unless someone had filmed us having sex last night, how else would they know for sure?

"Well if that is the case then, you will have no problem having a doctor perform a rape kit on you to determine whether or not you are telling the truth."

Shit.

I hadn't thought of that. But another thought sparked in my head. I was done speaking, and I would no longer say another word without the presence of my lawyer.

Only, I didn't have a lawyer. But the cop didn't know that.

"I would like to speak to my lawyer. Because I really don't think all of that is necessary."

He nodded, clearly not expecting me to request that. I'm sure he assumed since I'm young, I wouldn't exactly know what I was doing. Little did he know, I grew up watching a little too much Law and Order.

"I also want to speak to Dimitri." I added before he got up and left the room.

"I'm sorry Ms. Hathaway, but that isn't possible right now. You and him are both part of an ongoing investigation, therefore you are allowed no contact what-so-ever until everything is sorted out."

I let out a sigh of defeat, because I knew there was no way this was possible. When he left me alone, the panic started to set in again. I didn't have a lawyer. Hell, I couldn't even afford a lawyer. Not after I had spent all my money on shopping the other day. I let my face fall into my hands and forcefully pressed my fingers into my temple, rubbing small circles against them to hopefully ease some of my tension.

An idea came to me out of nowhere, but I didn't like it. I honestly don't even know why my brain formulated it, because it was probably one of the worst possible ideas ever. As much as I didn't want to follow through with it, I didn't have many other options.

The cop returned to the interrogation room ten minutes later, and I told him that my lawyer was currently tied up with other clients and I had to go to work anyway. If I wasn't under arrest for anything, then were was no reason why I needed to stay there.

"We'll be in contact Ms. Hathaway." I didn't even say goodbye, because I left that office as soon as I possibly could.

I flagged down a taxi, and hopped in the backseat. This was definitely cozier than the back of a cop car. Attempting to improve my appearance, I fluffed my hair up a little bit, and added a touch of lip gloss to my lips.

When I got to Sacrifice, I let out a low groan. I made my way in through the front doors, and my first stop was the bar. I was going to need a drink, or maybe ten before I would have the balls to do what I know I needed to do.

Thankfully, Lissa was bartending. I gave her a big smile, and sat down in one of the open stools.

"Hey! I haven't seen you around here much lately." She returned my smile, and actually genuinely sounded interested in why I hadn't been around here lately.

"Yeah, I've been busy. Definitely needed to take a couple days off… and when you get a chance, I'll take three tequila shots and a long island."

"Whoa… you must be going through something rough if you're going to order all of that at once." She let out a soft laugh, and poured the three shots right in front of me. She turned around to get my mixed drink ready and I stared down at the liquor in front of me.

If these had placed in front of me around two years ago, I would have easily taken them down and then asked for more. But I hadn't drank in quite along time, and I knew I was not going to enjoy this. Lifting the first shot glass to my mouth, I tilted it back quickly and let the alcohol slide down my throat. It burned the entire time it went down, and it felt like there was a fire igniting in my belly. Before the feeling faded, I quickly inhaled the other two shots and waited patiently for Lissa to return with my long island.

After a couple minutes, she brought me my drink and as soon as it hit the bar, my mouth attacked the straw. I wanted to be as intoxicated but still coherent as possible. I soon finished that drink and ordered two more shots, which I thought, was plenty. I was already buzzed, and I could definitely feel the alcohol impairing my senses and judgment.

I slurped down the other two shots, and quickly stood up from the bar. Which proved to be a bad idea when I felt the world start spinning around me. Holding on to the bar for support, I noticed just the person I was looking for out of the corner of my eye.

Shoving my way through the crowd, I casually walked up to him.

"Heyyy…just the man I was looking for…" I said trying to add a pleasant twist to my words to make myself seemed a little happier than I actually was. Even though the alcohol was already starting to help me in that department.

He gave me a large grin, clearly not expecting those words to ever come out of my mouth.

"What can I help you with Rose?" He replied, taking a large sip of the drink he was nursing.

I ran my fingers against the skin of his arm that his button down shirt exposed, and looked up at him with my big puppy dog eyes.

"I need your help with something, Adrian."

**I know this was kind of a boring chapter, but it was necessary. Not sure when I'll be able to update next since Christmas Eve is tomorrow, but I will see what I can do! I hope you all have a happy holiday, regardless of what you celebrate :) Review and send your feedback, please! xoxo**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

On the way down to the police station I focused my eyes on anything I could that was outside of the confinement of the police car that I was in. I wanted to divert my attention as much as possible, so I wouldn't continue to mentally beat myself up over everything that has happened the past couple days.

I knew for certain that I didn't regret a single thing that happened with Rose. Do I regret that I let myself fall in love with her? No. Do I regret that we made love for most of the night last night? Most definitely not. But do I regret that I couldn't maintain my self-control until she was of a legal age? Yes. But that only put me at fault, and not her. Sure, she might have tempted me a little bit more than I'd like to let on, but I am the adult here. And I should have been the one to control how everything played out. Only, I wasn't. So now I have to pay for the consequences of my actions.

When the car came to a halt in front of the station, I was dragged from my current state of mind and back into the real world. The bigger of the two cops got out first and pulled me out from the backseat of the vehicle and into the building. Immediately I was led into an interrogation room that was complete with a security system, and two-way mirror I was sure.

The cop that led me in then proceeded to cuff me to the table like I was some kind of serious criminal and bound to strike at any given moment. I had to internally laugh about that a little bit.

A detective from the department soon sat down adjacent from me and began to flip through some papers that he brought with him. I know people should normally get nervous in situations like this, but for some reason I was feeling relatively calm. It could have been due to the fact that I didn't believe I had done anything wrong, but I wasn't entirely sure. Surprisingly, I was actually more worried about Rose than I was myself.

It took him a while before he actually decided to stop ignoring me and start up a conversation.

"So Mr. Belikov, tell me about yourself."

I wasn't exactly sure why he was trying to make small talk, when I was quite positive he had my entire life story somewhere in his packet of information that was sitting in front of him.

"Call me Dimitri."

"Okay _Dimitri._" He put extra emphasis on my name, and then restated the question.

I told him everything I knew he wanted to hear. Such as my age, where I was from, where I went to college, and even what I ate for dinner last night, just to be an asshole.

Quite frankly I was getting annoyed that they weren't just getting to the point. I'm sure they wanted to drag this on as long as they possibly could, but all I wanted to do was get out of there and back to my perfect Roza. So I could hold her in my arms, assure her everything was okay and that we could finally be together again without anything to get in between us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted her. It wasn't hard to when the entire office consisted of boring colored furniture and bland looking people. She stood out amongst everything, making her look more beautiful and radiant than ever. Seeing her here was bittersweet. I was happy to see that she was doing okay, but also saddened by the fact that I was sure they were going to make her go through everything just as I am.

I pushed Rose out of my head and continued to go along with all of the bullshit procedures, making myself seem like I was the most cooperating criminal that the entire state of New York ever laid eyes on. Unfortunately, the questions started to get into details and specifics about my past relationships, my current relationships, and everything in between. He wanted to know mainly about Rose, and that's when I knew I couldn't answer any more of his questions until I was able to talk to her.

**Rose POV**

"Well, I think we should go to someplace more private to have this discussion." He now grinned from ear to ear; thankfully picking up on all the signals I was giving him.

"I couldn't agree with you more." I said in the most seductive voice I could manage.

I reached for Adrian's hands, and intertwined my fingers within his. They were cold and almost clammy. I laughed to myself, thinking of how ironic it was that the temperature of his skin just so happened to match how cold and heartless he really was.

Dodging the massive groups of people that were hanging around the main floor of the club, I led Adrian up the stairs towards his office. He made sure we made it there in record time, even if it meant ignoring a few people that called his name or attempted to start up a conversation.

Once we were behind the safety of his door, he made his way over to his large, very comfortable looking office chair and I waited until his eyes were on me again to show him that I was clearly locking the door.

I don't think his creepy smile left his face once since I approached him downstairs, and it only seemed to get bigger once he noticed what I was doing.

"Why don't you come sit down Rose and we can talk about what you need…" He turned his chair away from his desk and patted his lap gently with both of his hands, showing me exactly where he wanted me to sit.

I slowly made my way from the door, towards the location of where Adrian was seated. I kept my gaze focused only on him, adding way too much eye contact for my liking.

When I was standing directly in front of him he held out both of his hands, signaling me to place mine in his. I went along with what he wanted, and the next thing I know, I was being pulled onto his lap.

He made sure I was straddling him, as he encouraged my legs to wrap around his chair. My arms then made their way around his neck, and our faces were instantly brought closer together. Adrian wasted no time at all as he wrapped his arms tightly around my body, and rested his hands directly on my ass.

I already felt an erection through his pants, which made me a little bit more nervous than I had been five minutes ago.

"I need a favor from you…" I said giving him my big man eating smile that no one has ever been able to resist. I unwound my arms from his neck and began to play with his shirt collar.

"I'm sure we can work something out…I can be pretty flexible." His innuendo was more than obvious, and I suddenly felt his cold skin against the small of my back as he stuck his hands under the bottom of my shirt. It caused me to jump a little, but I soon relaxed again.

"I was hoping you might say that." I loosened up his tie, so it hung a little lower on his neck. If he wasn't such a total creep, I might have actually found him pretty sexy. But that was ruined the moment he decided to practically rape me my first night working here.

Out of nowhere, he leaned in and attempted to kiss me. I was barely able to dodge it, and instead I nuzzled my face into his neck. I knew I wasn't going to be able to avoid him for long, but I wanted to prolong the moment when it all had to go down as long as I could.

I gave him a few light kisses on his neck, and let my tongue leave a trail against his skin. Hearing a soft moan escape from his lips caused me to cease what I was doing for just a moment, until I remembered why exactly I was here.

I wasn't here so I could willingly spend time doing bad things with Adrian. I was here so I could get myself a lawyer. I also needed to find someone to get me into where they were holding him so I could talk to him and get our story straight.

Adrian pushed me away from him, obviously sensing my hesitation and stared at me with a confused look on my face.

"You are very misleading Rose. I was the one who wanted this the first time we met, and you were against it. So much so that you felt the need to cause me bodily harm. So why now?"

I tried to keep myself from having the 'deer caught in headlights' look come across my face, as I struggled to come up with a suitable answer.

"I was afraid… and um..I'm very shy. I would rather us do this in private, like we are now." I attempted to give him a small smile to hide the nervousness in my voice.

"But doing it in front of people is half the fun darling." He returned my smile and ran his hands slowly up the front of my thighs. "I also believe you just want something from me, which is causing you to be overly friendly… not that I'm complaining."

"Well yes… I want you." I squeaked out, getting more and more anxious as his hands neared my crotch.

"Prove it." Was all he said, and I instantly regret my previous response. As if this wasn't hard enough for me already, he must enjoy wanting to make it harder.

I ran my fingers through his already messy, bronze colored hair and pulled his face closer to mine. I planted a light kiss on the edge of his lips, and continued to kiss him all the way back down to his neck.

I sucked on his skin rather hard, but not in an 'I want you right now' sort of way. It was more of an aggressive 'You're going to give me what I want' sort of way.

The harder I sucked, the more excited I felt him getting underneath me. I returned that gesture by slowly rotating my hips and grinding myself against him. I heard his breath stifle, and his hands tightened their grip against my ass.

Pulling my face away from his neck slightly, I snuck a peek at his facial expression. His eyes were closed, and he was clearly enjoying what I was doing to him. I made sure to keep him distracted by sliding a hand down his body and roughly start to rub his member outside of his pants.

When I sensed that I was getting him happy enough, I grabbed his tie with one hand, and pulled the knot up as quickly as I could. The emotion in his eyes told me that I had clearly caught him off guard, which was exactly my intention.

Putting all the strength I could behind my grip, I forced the tie to tighten around his neck and constrict his windpipe. His face began to turn a slight red, and a vein bulged out of his forehead. I laughed underneath my breath and wondered which body part would be bluer in a couple of minutes – his face or his balls.

"I will loosen up, but you will do everything I tell you to do. Do you understand?" I gave him a hard look, letting him know that I was in no way, shape or form, messing around.

He nodded since he was obviously incapable of talking. When I loosened the grip on the tie, giving him some slack to breathe, he gasped and attempted to catch his breath.

"What….the fuck….is wrong….with….you…" he panted, staring at me with wide eyes.

"I told you I need a favor. And I'll tell you right now; I'm not having sex with you to get it. Whether you like it or not, you're going to do what I ask. And that's the end of it."

"What…do you want…you crazy bit-" I jerked the tie forward, causing him to choke a little.

"I think it would be in your best interest not to insult me right now." I gave him and evil grin, and once again loosened my grip. He would be completely useless to me if he were dead, so I had to give him a tiny bit of air. "And since you asked…you are going to hire and pay for my friend to have the best damn lawyer in the entire state of New York. You will not ask the lawyer any questions regarding the case that he will be handling. And you will also use whatever fucking connections you have in this state, and you will find someone at the police department to let me talk to Dim- my friend."

"And why the fuck would I ever do any of this for you?" He spat out at me. I felt a drop of saliva land on the side of my face and resisted the urge to choke him again. Even though I thought that might have been a little too extreme, I was almost considering doing it anyway.

"Well for one, I practically have your sick, pathetic life resting in my hands right now. And not to mention, I'm a minor. So if you refuse to do what I ask, or disobey any of the rules I have just made, I will march right up to the wonderful NYPD and tell them that you not only forced yourself on me twice, but also your pig of a father hired me to strip and dance in front of an entire audience of men when I am clearly underage. If it's the last thing I do in this lifetime, I will bring you, your father and this club down." I smirked, basking in my satisfaction.

After the the last couple day's events, I never would have thought that I would be happy to admit I was still only seventeen years old. But after tonight, seventeen was starting to look better and better.

**So I know that I'm like almost 5 hours late, but Merry Christmas everyone! I wasn't intending on writing a chapter today, but I was in a giving mood, so I decided to write one anyway. I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! Reviews and such would be a lovely present for me hehe xoxo**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

"What the fuck?" Adrian glared at me with an unreadable facial expression. His breathing was finally regulated, but he was still on edge since I hadn't entirely released my grip from his tie yet.

I'm sure he wasn't expecting to hear that from me. Not many people would have, mostly because I didn't look my age at all. Which is why I presume Victor hired me on the spot. And which is also why Dimitri laughed in my face when he saw my real age printed on a form he asked me to fill out.

"You can pick your jaw up off the ground now, Adrian. I am only seventeen, but that's the end of that topic. Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. It's your choice."

I pulled myself off of his lap, and adjusted my clothing, not taking my eyes off of him for a single second. He shook his head, and lowered his gaze to the floor.

"I guess I really don't have a choice, do I?" He mumbled under his breath, barely audible for me to hear.

"Unless you want to kiss this club, and your life as you know it now goodbye, then no you don't really have a choice." My attitude was snarky, and my words were crisp and intense. Adrian needed to really understand the seriousness of this situation, and I was going to convey my message to him in whatever way it took.

"Can you let go of me so I can make some phone calls now?" I couldn't believe the sudden change in this man, and it had happened literally right before my eyes. His voice was devoid of any of the sultry creepiness that he spoke with before, and it's almost as if something had clicked in his head, that maybe he had been truly wrong. Granted, we would probably still be in the same boat that we were in before had I not revealed my true age, but at least he was treating me with a tad bit more respect, which made me happy.

I released my grip on the tie, and stepped back a foot or so to give him some room.

"You better not try and pull any fast ones, cause trust me, I will make sure you live to regret it."

The next thing I know, he picks up the landline on his desk and begins to rapidly push its buttons. He spoke in a hushed tone, but there was a genuine nature in his voice, so I didn't think I had anything to be worried about.

He was transferred to quite a few different people, until finally he was able to reach the person he was obviously trying to get a hold of. Adrian and the mysterious man on the other line were talking for what seemed like eternity. Although, I may be over exaggerating that a little bit, I was just ready to get the hell out of there and go see Dimitri.

Eventually, he hung up the phone and turned his attention towards me.

"I got him the best lawyer I know. He's taken care of my family for as long as I can remember, and he promised he would take care of your friend."

After Adrian said that, I couldn't even begin to try to wipe the goofy grin off of my face. That had been the best news ever, and I was so excited to just get this whole situation over with. He soon pulled out a business card from one of his desk drawers and handed it to me. I ran my fingers across the bold printed name; Ibrahim Mazur.

"He sounds foreign." I laughed, trying to lighten the mood up. The tension was clearly still in the room, considering I had almost choked Adrian out less than a half an hour ago.

"He's Turkish. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make another phone call. To the police department."

Turkish? Yep, I would definitely say that he was foreign. Not that I minded though, as long as he got Dimitri out of trouble, he could be from Zimbabwe or Timbuktu for all I cared.

I nodded and busied myself with random objects I found in Adrian's office. I stumbled across some pretty dirty magazines that were lying in the corner on an end table. 'Of course he would have these in his office' I thought as I started to flip through the pages, since there was nothing else to do. It took me a few seconds to realize what he might do while looking at these magazines and I hastily put them back in their original place.

Thankfully, he was just getting off the phone as I was doing so.

"So, what's the verdict?" I asked, walking back towards the end of the office that Adrian was on.

"You can go see him."

I suddenly felt all giddy inside, and was almost half tempted to hug Adrian. Until I realized that might not be such a good idea, so I settled with telling him thank you.

"Don't thank me yet. I have to go with you."

**Dimitri POV**

"I told you, I am not saying another word until my lawyer gets here."

"Dimitri, you said that almost an hour ago. If you have a lawyer, where the fuck is he?"

"He said he'd be here as soon as he can. That's all I can tell you."

The detective sighed, obviously defeated. But I had really meant what I said; I wasn't going to say another word until my lawyer got here. Even though I had never contacted one.

Really, I was just dawdling, because at this point, I didn't really have a plan. I knew that after a given amount of time had passed, the police department was going to stop being so friendly with me and most likely just assign me a public defender or I would be forced to call some random guy and hope that he would pull through for me.

He eventually left me alone in the room again which I was thankful for. As much as my aloneness triggered thoughts of Rose, I was glad to be thinking about anything but the current situation at hand.

My mind slipped back into my first memory of her. How my attention had been immediately drawn to her, despite all of the other women that were up on stage. Normally, I would have never in a million years gone to Sacrifice, had it not been for Mikhail's bachelor party, I probably would have never even thought twice about the place since it was no where remotely close to where I traveled to and from in the city.

Luckily, fate has a funny way of doing things. If Mikhail wasn't getting married, or perhaps decided to go to a different club or have his bachelor party on a different night, I would have never met Rose.

Essentially, I wouldn't be in this very position right now had I not met Rose. But I wouldn't take back anything that has happened between us to get out of it.

Again, my thoughts were interrupted when the door to the interrogation room opened again. For a second, I thought I was still in my Rose state of mind, because here she was, directly in front of me. It wasn't until she ran over and embraced me that I realized this was real.

Tears were almost in her eyes as she brought herself down to my eye level since I was still cuffed to the table.

"I'm so sorry Dimitri. This is all my fault." Her face was overwhelmed with sadness, and her voice was starting to get creaky. I cupped her face with my open hand, and pressed my forehead against hers.

"Don't even say that Roza. None of this is your fault at all." At that moment, I wanted to kiss her. But I didn't really want to push my luck in case someone was outside watching. I was actually quite surprised they hadn't barged in yet. Which brought my attention to the man standing near the door.

He looked familiar, yet I couldn't quite figure out where I had seen him before. The more I studied the details of his face, the clearer the picture became. He was the guy who Rose had kneed in the balls that night in the club, right before I went outside and we met face to face for the first time. This was also the guy that was supposed to 'punish' Rose if she ever decided to leave Sacrifice before her contract was up.

"What is he doing here?" I gritted through my teeth, keeping my voice soft enough so only Rose could hear.

"I convinced him to help us. I'll explain later. But he got us the best lawyer, and he's paying for it, and he arranged for us to talk right now. So please, just focus on that for me. Please?" Her voice was pleading, and yet soothing at the same time.

I had started to calm down a little, and it took a moment for the reality to set in. Rose had gotten me a lawyer, a pretty damn good one at that. And we didn't have to pay a single dime for him or his services. Plus she had somehow managed to get in here to talk to me. I couldn't believe it. If I had any doubts about her feelings towards me before this, they were immediately gone now.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked, looking her straight in the eyes.

"I have a plan, okay? Now listen to me very closely." She stated, and brought her face very close to mine. "I told the detective who interviewed me that Christian had been my photographer, which is obviously the truth. So you cannot possibly get in trouble for that, because he is the one who shot me, and he is the one who sent those e-mails to you." Her voice was getting quicker, and I could tell her nerves were putting her on the edge. I reached out and took her hand in my open one, and tangled our fingers together. I brought her hand up to my mouth and laid a gentle kiss upon it.

Her face turned up into a smile, as she was momentarily distracted by my sudden burst of affection.

"Continue." I ushered her, trying to hear the rest of her plan.

"We are going to tell the cops that I was upset over a phone call I received from a friend back at home, and I have no other friends in New York since I just moved here, so I came to you. You invited me in, made us some coffee and we talked out my problems, blah blah blah. Since it was late, you told me I could sleep in your bed, and you slept on the couch. And that's that."

"Do you always sleep naked when you're spending the night in an acquaintance's apartment?"

She playfully nudged my arm, and scolded me for trying to joke around at a time like this.

"So when your lawyer gets here, you're going to know what to say?"

"I'll say exactly what you told me to, I promise." My voice was soft, and mellow. It was amazing how one minute I could be completely worried about being hauled off to jail for the rest of my life, but then after Rose came around, all my problems seemed to vanish.

"Good. We need to get you out of here…I miss you."

"And you know I miss you, Roza. This will all blow over soon."

I was going to say more, but the man in the corner loudly clearing his throat interrupted me. It must have been intentional, because Rose gave my hand one last squeeze, stood up and headed back towards him.

I was sad to see her leave, but before she left, she turned towards me and mouthed the words 'I love you'. And that was all I needed to hear.

**So this was kind of just a filler chapter...so I'm not expecting to get many reviews or feedback on it. But if you want to leave me something anyway that would be great :)**

**And just curious, how many of you have read Richelle Mead's 'Bloodlines'? I just ordered that along with the Vampire Academy graphic novel. I've heard a lot of mixed reviews on it and I was just wondering what you guys thought about it if you have read it before. Let me know! xoxo**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

I hated Adrian for ruining the perfect moment I was having with Dimitri, but I knew I shouldn't press my luck. I was grateful for the time that I was able to spend with him, and so lucky that Adrian even made that possible. Who knows what might have happened had we not had the opportunity to talk before his lawyer got here.

As we exited the interrogation room, I found myself face to face with a very stern looking man. I took note of all of his features, which happened to consist of dark hair, even darker eyes, and olive colored skin. This must be Dimitri's lawyer, because there was no way this man was American.

"Are you Mr. Mazur?" I asked questioningly. He definitely looked the part of a lawyer with his neatly pressed tuxedo, and clean-shaven face. In his hand he held a large black briefcase with golden buckles that matched perfectly with the large watch that lay upon his wrist. I would have put my life on the fact that it was 14 karat, because honestly this man reeked of wealth.

"Why yes, yes I am. And who might you be?" When he spoke his voice was powerful, and very manly. He held out his right hand, and I gave him my best handshake.

"I'm Rose. Rose Hathaway. I'm a friend of Adrian's. He told me that you were one of the best lawyers around, so I knew I had to hire you to defend my friend. Thank you so much for coming."

I was very grateful for this man, because if he was the best, I could only assume he would get Dimitri out of all this trouble so things could go back to the way they were before.

When I introduced myself, I thought I saw a sparkle in Ibrahim's eyes, but as quick as I had noticed it, was as quick as it was gone.

"Call me Abe. And Adrian's a good guy, I was glad to help out." I was half tempted to roll my eyes when he said Adrian was a good guy, but then I decided against it. I needed both of them on my side right now, so I was definitely not about to do anything to jeopardize that.

"Dimitri's waiting to speak to you." I added meekly as I gestured towards the door. "You will be able to help him right?" I tried to hide the desperation in my voice, but the more I thought about it, the more nervous I got. We may have the best lawyer in the city, but if our story doesn't play out like we wanted, and either one of us gets caught in a lie; we will both likely end up in prison.

Abe's expression suddenly turned soft as he looked at me. "I will do everything in my power to help you. It's the least I can do."

I nodded and let his words sink in. He seemed genuine, and I somehow felt that I could really trust him.

He eventually made his way into the interrogation room, and sat opposite of Dimitri. They rivaled each other's in size, each having height and bulk. As they both hovered over the tiny table in the room, it for some reason reminded me of the circus act where the really fat clown would try to squeeze into a tiny car. I practically found myself laughing at my own jokes, until I noticed how serious the conversation was getting in the interrogation room.

Both men had hard looks on their faces, and I watched in awe as Dimitri explained the story I had told him earlier, word for word. Damn did he have a memory.

Abe let the information sink in, and took plenty of notes as he listened to the story. As far as I could tell, it didn't appear as if he questioned it at all. I let out a sigh of relief, and continued to study the pair as their discussion went on.

Watching Abe conduct business triggered something in me. I'm not exactly sure what it was, nor can I really explain it. I just felt a weird feeling, but I immediately attributed it to the fact that this was a huge deal. My entire body was really uneasy, and it had also been quite a long time since I ate.

Adrian must have heard my stomach grumble, because he gave me an odd look and then asked me if I wanted to grab some lunch. I was hesitant at first, but I eventually decided to go. As much as I wanted to continue to base my feelings for Adrian around what had happened between us the first time I met, I really had to let all of that go. He was doing me a huge favor, and I really owed it to him to not treat him so poorly.

I gave Dimitri one last wistful glance through the two-way mirror, even though I knew he couldn't see me. I crossed my fingers and said a silent prayer that everything would go okay in there while I was gone.

Adrian took me to a small deli that was down the street from the police station. The weather was pretty decent, so we decided to sit outside in the patio area.

I had to admit, it was a bit awkward at first. I wasn't really sure how to strike up a conversation with him since we weren't exactly friends, so I was grateful when the waitress came by and delivered us our menus.

Casually I glanced at the menu, trying to decide what I wanted. I ran my finger down every column, by passing many things I wasn't in the mood to try.

"They have the best grilled cheese here." Adrian spoke, not taking his eyes away from his menu. I was surprised that he was the one to start talking, and of all things he decided to bring up, he thought of grilled cheese. Go figure.

"Have you been here before?" I wasn't really sure I wanted to hear the answer, but what else could I say to that?

"All the time. When I was younger, my dad used to bring me here. When he had time for me, that is." There was sudden change in his tone of voice, and I could almost sense a bit of sadness. I was taken aback by the direction of this conversation, but I wasn't going to add fuel to the flames by being a bitch so I looked up from my menu and gave him a small smile.

"If it makes you feel any better, I never really knew my parents." I looked away from him, because now he was looking at me, and I wasn't about to let him see me cry. He might be nice to me now, but that doesn't change the fact that he had been an asshole the other day.

He seemed intrigued by what I said, so despite my heart telling me to shut the hell up, I continued with my sob story.

"They put me into foster care when I was two. I've grown up in dozens of different foster homes since." I lowered my voice to a whisper, trying to prevent myself from getting choked up. As much as I hated to admit it, the fact that I didn't know my parents bothered me more than anything. All my life I hadn't really felt loved, which is one of the reasons I think I used to act out so much as a kid. I was craving attention, and I really didn't care how I got it or what form it was in. As long as someone was paying attention to me, I felt more at ease.

The waitress returned with our drinks, and asked for our food orders. I finally decided that I should try the grilled cheese and Adrian must have sensed that my younger years weren't something I wanted to discuss anymore so we dropped it.

Our conversation now consisted of basic, neutral topics. I found out that Adrian was indeed an only child, he has been to every country in Europe…twice, and has only had one serious girlfriend. (Surprise, surprise)

After we finished our lunch, and Adrian offered to pay the bill we headed back towards the police station. I had high hopes that when we would return, we would hear good news.

**Dimitri POV**

Once again I was alone in the interrogation room. Why did people keep doing this to me? It's like they wanted me to be alone so I would have nothing to do but to think about the things that have happened. Maybe that's how they got criminals to confess or something, I don't know. But the time I have spent in this room so far today was really starting to take its toll on me.

Eventually I heard the door squeak open, and I looked up to be greeted by a very intimidating looking man. I stood about 6"7, 250 lbs and could easily scare off anyone who tried to approach me. But this man was probably only 6"3'-6"4', 220 lbs and was probably ten times scarier than I could ever be.

He had a fierce expression on his face, and he soon joined me at the table. I would have been polite and shaken his hand, had my good hand not been cuffed down. I think he understood, so I easily let it go.

For the next hour or so we talked about everything and anything that could have been linked to the charges they had arrested me for. Some of the things Abe had asked, Rose didn't cover, which worried me. But most of them were very simple answers so I didn't think they mattered much in the long run.

Abe had no problem believing the story that I had told him. And after repeating it in my head so many times, I was starting to believe that nothing had actually happened between Rose and I.

I was starting to get frustrated, because this was taking way too much time and all I wanted to do was go back to my apartment and be with Rose. We barely had anytime to talk about everything that had happened, and even though most of my concerns from her earlier telephone call were gone, I still wanted to know about it. And there were so many other things I wanted to know about her as well.

The cop from earlier soon came back into the interrogation room, after Abe and I finished our discussion. I was then dismissed from the conversation, and the cop and my lawyer began to have a heated debate as to why I was still here.

All of the so-called evidence that they had against me was faulty, and there was a good explanation for it all. They had no proof that Rose and I were together, and she had every right to deny them of the test that they needed in order to prove it. I wasn't the one who took pictures of her when she was half naked, and there was proof of that because the pictures were not on my personal camera, and they were also sent to me by my co-worker Christian.

Unfortunately, Christian would most likely get in trouble for this. 'Better him than me' I thought, which was quite selfish. But I'm sure he could easily get out of it, seeing as he had no idea Rose was underage because I never told him.

Eventually Abe proved to the cop that they no longer had anything to hold me here on. When I was un-cuffed from the table, my wrist was sore and scraped. But none of that was important now, because I was a free man.

I gave Abe a big, hearty handshake and thanked him for everything that he has done for me. He told me that he would be in contact with me soon, and left.

Making my way out the front doors, I was greeted by an all too familiar face. Rose hopped up the concrete steps two at a time and instantly flung herself in my arms.

I tightened my grip around her body and spun her around in a circle. Her smile grew bigger, and she nuzzled her face into my neck.

"I'm so happy you're okay." She whispered softly into my ear.

"Me too Roza, me too." I let out a big, happy sigh, allowing myself to finally relax. I was free to go, and I had the woman of my dreams in my arms. For the first time today, things were looking up.

**First off, let me start off by saying thank you to everyone who reviewed and gave me your feedback last time. I mentioned at the end of last chapter that I wouldn't get many reviews and it turns out, I received the most reviews I've ever gotten at one time on that chapter hah. So ironic!**

**And I'm sorry to disappoint you all with this chapter, because I know it's kind of boring. Aside from the ending of course! It was boring for me to write, which is why it's taken me this long. I promise that the upcoming chapters will definitely be better, so stay tuned! xoxo**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

Once I had my arms wrapped around him, I never wanted to let go. Words couldn't describe how happy I was to see him, and I was even happier that he was no longer handcuffed to a table.

He held me close to him for quite a while, as if he was thinking the same thing I was. This was a close call, and we couldn't let it happen again. Yet being reunited sparked a million different emotions in both of us, which was obvious. But we couldn't give into our feelings, not here, and not now. We had almost lost each other, most likely for a very long time. Just the thought of us not being able to be together sent chills down my spine. At this moment, I could no longer picture my life without him in it.

I closed my eyes as I rested my head against his chest. His aftershave from the night before still lingered on his skin, and as the scent filled my nostrils I felt as if my knees would buckle. Thankfully, he was still holding me tight against him, assuring me that I wouldn't fall.

When I heard Adrian cough, I pulled away from Dimitri and he set me down, clearly sensing Adrian's presence. I'm sure this was more than awkward for him, but at this moment, I didn't care. Dimitri was the only thing that mattered.

I wasn't exactly sure how to relieve the tension and get rid of the awkwardness of the situation, so I uneasily gave Adrian a hug. It wasn't a good hug though, only one of those lame kind of hugs where you only wrap one arm around the person. Sure, he might have helped me, but he definitely didn't deserve a good hug. He barely hugged me back, obviously noticing the way Dimitri was glaring at him. I quickly thanked him again for all of his help, and told him that I would see him one of these days at Sacrifice when I went to pick up my last paycheck and some of my other belongings.

Once he was out of sight, I smiled up at Dimitri and took his hand. He gave me a pathetic look and pulled his hand away from mine.

"Not yet Roza. We're barely five feet away from the people that still want to see me go to jail." He attempted a hearty laugh, because he knew I would be upset, but still did his best to cheer me up anyway.

I pouted, sticking my bottom lip out as far as it could go. I was sad, but I understood. If I wanted to keep him around things would have to stay under wraps until my birthday. Which thankfully was only a week and a half away.

We walked back to Dimitri's apartment in an easy silence, simply enjoying the fact that we were both together. Occasionally I would see him staring at me out of the corner of my eye, and I would turn to look at him. He'd smile, and I would smile right back.

I was finding that it didn't take much for me to be happy with him. His presence alone had a weird effect on me. When we were together, I felt complete. Like I had found something that I had been searching for all my life, and the pieces of the puzzle were finally falling together.

Once we were in the safety of his apartment, we both instantly relaxed. I flopped down on his large, leather couch and let myself sink down into the cushions. I closed my eyes and exhaled, replaying the events of the past twenty-four hours in my head.

"You don't regret it, do you?" I didn't shift my position in the couch, and my face was visibly hidden beneath a large pillow he used for decoration. I was afraid to see his reaction, in case he did regret it.

It didn't take him long with his long legs to walk over to where I was sitting. He sat on the edge of the couch, taking careful steps as to not crush me. He face loomed over mine, and his beautiful dark locks framed his face so delicately, and perfectly I wanted to fuck him again right then and there.

"Absolutely not." His hand found mine, and he linked our fingers together. Dimitri was not usually a man of many words, which I found incredibly sexy. But when he talked, he always managed to say the right things, that of course made me feel better.

I couldn't help but smile, and he gave my hand a small squeeze. I sat up and turned to face him, head on. His giant brown eyes bore into mine, and I swear I felt as if I could drown in them.

Leaning in close to him, and breathing lightly against his neck I whispered in his ear "So you wouldn't regret if I did this…" I left a light kiss on the side of his neck and felt his pulse increase beneath my lips.

Hearing his breath hitch as I kissed him turned me on a little bit more. My kisses quickly turned into sucks, which turned into nibbles and then to full on bites. Even though Dimitri and I were intimate last night, it felt like forever ago now.

The next thing I know, Dimitri is hovering over me. His movements were so swift I barely even realized what was happening as he pushed me down on the couch and crawled on top of me.

"Roza, Roza, Roza. You're making this way too hard on me." His grin was playful, but serious at the same time.

At that moment, I realized I was doing exactly what I swore I wouldn't do. I was giving into my feelings for Dimitri. I was giving in to the part of me that craved him, and longed to have him inside me.

"I can't help it." I whined as I toyed with the bottom of his shirt hem. I felt bad teasing him this way, but I wanted him. I wanted him so badly my body ached and my urges only seemed to get worse the longer he held his strong, toned body over mine. "You don't know the things you do to me…" I whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear me.

"Likewise Roza. My self control is dwindling by the second." He cupped my face in his large, calloused hand and leaned in close to my face and gently brushing his lips against mine. It wasn't a kiss filled with lust and desire, yet it was a kiss filled with bliss, happiness and love. He was sweet, and tender, keeping his body hovered slightly above mine, letting none of his body weight fall on me.

"I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep up this bout of abstinence, Comrade." I knew that even though he was smiling, it was killing him inside to resist me. After all, his inability to resist me was what almost caused him to become incarcerated a couple hours ago.

"Come on Roza. Let's do something to take your mind off of things." He sat up and held his hands out, in order to help me do the same.

"What's on the agenda for today?"

"Well, we still need to build up your portfolio if we're going to get you some killer job offers soon."

"So more pictures?" I asked him excitedly. Modeling was something I was really starting to enjoy doing. I knew I was good looking, and I felt most at ease while in front of the camera. I knew this was something I was meant to do. After all, I hadn't really decided on what I was going to do for the rest of my life. While my fellow classmates filled out college applications and went on visits to their favorite universities, I struggled to figure out what it really is I wanted to do. I knew college wasn't an option, since my foster parents couldn't afford to send me away and my grades weren't good enough to earn me any grants or anything. So it was as if by some miracle Dimitri walked into my life and showed me something I actually excelled in.

"Yes Roza. As long as you promise to keep your clothes on this time." He laughed a little, but I knew that today's earlier troubles still haven't left his mind.

"I'll try my best. But who knows what will happen when you start snapping shots." I gave him a flirty wink, and hopped off to his bedroom.

I wasn't really sure what I would wear since most of my clothes were now dirty. I mentally noted that I needed to ask Dimitri if he had a washer and dryer in his unit.

Eventually I found a pair of short, light washed jean shorts and slipped them on over my panties. Then I rummaged through a few of Dimitri's drawers until I found a plain, white wife-beater. I took off the t-shirt I was currently wearing and pulled the wife-beater over my head. It was very large on me, covering the tiny shorts I was wearing underneath it. Using a ponytail, I grabbed most of the fabric in the back and tied it up so it showed off a little of my tummy.

I made my way back out towards the studio and found Dimitri assembling his equipment.

"How do I look?" I said, spinning in a slow circle and showing off my outfit.

"You look better in those than I ever do." He flashed me a wide smile and gestured me to come towards him. He was on his knees, but because of his height he wasn't that much shorter than me once I stood up next to him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and tilted his head up so he was looking at me. "You're so, so beautiful Roza."

For some reason I swear I felt myself blush, and I leaned down and gave him a sweet kiss.

"Let's get rolling! We have work to do!" I pulled away from his grasp and stood in front of the screen he laid out. Joking around, I playfully posed in ridiculous ways, putting my hands sassily on my hips and puffing out my lips.

Dimitri shook his head at me and once he had everything completely set up he started to get serious. I spent a lot of the time on the floor. He took many pictures of me while I was laying on my back, or propping myself up on my elbows. This shoot wasn't so much about showing off my assets as it was showing whoever was looking at the photo that I could look beautiful in whatever I wore, even something as simple as a wife-beater and jean shorts.

Occasionally I would start to pose too sexual, or scandalous and I would find Dimitri grinning behind the body of the camera. He would then pull it away from his face, and give me a look that says 'You know better, Rose' almost as if he was a scolding parent. I would adjust my pose, and do something to soften it up, and the camera would return to it's upright position and he would continue to snap away.

After a couple of hours passed and we had a good hundred or so photos of me we finally stopped. It had been a long day, and both of we're clearly getting tired. Dimitri's eyes were droopy, and starting to turn blood shot from the lack of sleep. After all, we were up awfully late last night, and didn't even have the chance to sleep off our wild night. As he packed up his equipment in the studio, I bound off towards his bedroom to change into more comfortable clothing.

I ditched the jean shorts and took off the wife-beater and my bra. Once again I raided Dimitri's clothing drawers until I found a flannel button down shirt. It's fabric felt soft and fluffy in my fingertips and I quickly put it on and buttoned almost all but a few buttons. I decided against wearing pants and walked back out towards where Dimitri was.

"You're putting me to shame again." Dimitri muttered as I met his location and wrapped my arms around his neck. I was practically on my tip toes, but he did a good job of leaning down to my height so it was possible for me to kiss him.

"Let's go cuddle since we can't really do much else." I smiled to let him know I was kidding around. My feelings from earlier diminished immensely, and cuddling with him didn't sound half bad right about now. He kissed me again, letting his lips linger on mine a fraction of a second longer than normal.

Our intimate moment was suddenly interrupted by a firm knock on the door. I stood positioned behind Dimitri, because I wasn't exactly sure who could be here and I was once again, barely wearing any clothing. You would think that he would have some kind of peep hole that showed whoever was on the other side of the door, but he didn't

Dimitri looked at me questioningly, shrugged and then quickly opened the door. Before my eyes I noticed a bright spurt of colors. I gasped, and nearly fainted right then and there. The figure behind Dimitri wasn't all that visible to me yet, but the parts I could see were very distinguished. The air in my lungs seemed to be stuck in my windpipe, my eyes went wide and it didn't take me long to notice that I could recognize that bright red hair anywhere.

**Uh oh! More drama, which is obviously my favorite thing to write about haha. Sorry for the delay though! I haven't been able to force myself to sit down and actually write this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it and I would appreciate any comments or feedback you have for me! Thanks to everyone who has left reviews and comments on all of the previous chapters, you guys are great!**

**Also, I hope you all have a happy and safe new year! :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

I was sure that my eyes were very close to practically bulging out of their sockets because what was happening was so unreal that I could barely believe my own eyes. For a second I thought for sure that I must have been dreaming, until I heard his voice. It's soft, timid tone brought me back to reality.

"Have you seen this girl? She's my girlfriend." Mason emphasized the last words he said, desperately trying to convey their meaning. He also held up a semi-old picture of me and showed it to Dimitri. I was still in my hiding place, that wasn't exactly visible from where Mason was standing. Every thing I wanted to say didn't seem to make sense to me. I was at a complete loss of words, my mind drawing a complete blank.

Dimitri turned around and stared at me. His expression was filled with bewilderment, confusion and hurt. He wanted answers, and for the life of me, I couldn't manage to spit them out.

I walked into the doorway and was immediately brought into a hug. It was a weird feeling, being embraced by him. After so long I had started to forget what it felt like. His arms were no where near as large as Dimitri's, his chest wasn't as toned, and even though I used to love the way Mason smelled, his fragrance no longer appealed to me.

"Hi Mase." I mumbled against his chest. He was squeezing me so tight, I could barely breathe. When he pulled away, his eyes met mine and they were filled with adoration, and happiness. I knew Mason missed me, especially after the phone call we had shared the other day. But seeing him now, all of my recent assumptions were proven true. I wasn't in love with him anymore. Sure, I still did have love for him, but not the kind of love he had for me. And it broke my heart that I knew I would soon have to break his.

His gaze traveled down to my current outfit. I had completely forgot what I was wearing, and I knew that this didn't look good. I was wearing what most girls throw on after they have sex with someone. And even though Dimitri and I hadn't done it today, it still happened before. But how was Mason to know any of that?

"Rose…so it's true?" A look of sadness now overcame his face, and I swear it looked as if he was about to cry.

"Is what true?" I honestly had no idea what he was talking about, but I had a feeling that he was about to tell me.

"You're being fucked by someone whose twice your age?" Mason's sadness was now replaced by anger, as he directed his comment towards Dimitri. Who for a moment, I forgot was still in our presence.

"Mason… where did you hear that?" My voice was shaky and uneven, but I kept a calm look upon my face as I spoke.

"It was all over the news. Damn it Rose! Why do you think I'm here?"

I hadn't realized it before, but I never stopped to even consider how Mason had found me. I don't remember any cameras or newscasters filming Dimitri's arrest, but maybe I was too distracted by everything else that was happening around me that I failed to notice them.

"We should go somewhere to talk, Mase." I felt awkward discussing this in front of Dimitri, and I really hoped that he would understand. I needed to explain things to Mason, and I had a feeling that being around Dimitri when I told him the story would only piss him off more.

Mason shook his head as he stuck his hands in his jean pockets, and turned his gaze down to the hardwood floor. "Whatever Rose."

"Let me go change…I'll be right back." I turned around and gave Dimitri an apologetic look. I couldn't read his expression, and that worried me even more. I tilted my head in the direction of his bedroom, signaling him to follow me. I wanted to talk to him, but I also didn't want to leave him and Mason alone in the same room.

As soon as Dimitri shut his bedroom door behind him, his voice turned louder than I had ever heard it.

"What the fuck Rose?" He stared at me wide-eyed, his lips turned tight and he clenched his jaw.

"I can explain Dimitri."

"Was he the guy you were talking to the other day? You said you loved him Rose, I heard you. Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend? And why the fuck did you make me believe that you were in love with me as much as I was in love with you." The questions flowed quickly out of his mouth, barely giving me time to answer any of them. I hadn't realized that Dimitri had heard me talking on the phone with Mason, but when I think back on it, I had heard something outside the door. At the time, I shrugged it off. But now, it was making more sense that Dimitri stealthily walked into the kitchen when he heard the conversation start to die down.

"Yes, he was. And I am in love with you. You have to believe me. I didn't expect to fall in love with you. Everything just happened so quickly, I didn't really have time to figure anything out. Let me explain everything to you. Please…" I felt the tears well up in my eyes, and before I could get a grip, they trickled down the side of my face. I couldn't lose Dimitri over this. Not after everything we had been through today.

"Just go Rose. Go talk to your boyfriend, figure things out with him. But don't you dare come back if you're still dating him by the end of tonight." His words were forceful, and scary. With every word he spoke, I felt like a knife was being stabbed into my chest. I was struggling to breathe as a large knot formed in my throat. I knew that I didn't want to be with Mason, and I was going to break up with him. But hearing those words come out of Dimitri's mouth really hit a sore spot in me.

"Okay…" Was all I could manage to choke out. The tears now flowed effortlessly down my face, and through my tear-streaked gaze I managed to find a dirty outfit and put it on. By the time I was dressed, Dimitri was gone. Where he went? I had no idea. But I didn't really have time to figure it out. I needed to talk to Mason, and I needed to get back here and fix things with Dimitri.

I walked back out towards the studio, and saw Mason admiring some of Dimitri's work that hung on the walls. He immediately shifted his attention to act like he wasn't looking at them though, when he heard me approach him.

"I know of a coffee shop that's down the street…" I wasn't exactly sure how to approach the situation, but I figured we should pick a destination where we would talk first. A coffee shop seemed pretty logical, despite that it was pretty late at night. Being in a public place when I explained things to Mason would definitely make things easier on me. Mason wasn't one to enjoy causing a scene, so this seemed like a good idea to me.

He didn't speak as I led him out towards the elevator. His silence was starting to bother me, especially when we walked all the way to the coffee shop without saying a word.

We walked inside and he plopped himself down in a comfortable looking chair in one of the corners. I figured I would need some caffeine if I were going to be explaining to two different people my feelings towards them. Talking about my emotions was never something I was ever good at.

I ordered myself a caramel latte and Mason a plain black coffee. I returned to the table with our drinks and set Mason's down in front of him.

"I hope this is still the way you like your coffee…"

"Yeah, you wouldn't know would you? Since you've been gone for the past month and a half." His voice was hostile, and harsh. He didn't even glance at me when he spoke either.

"I'm sorry Mason, I really am. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"How long Rose? How long have you been fucking him?" Now his eyes were on me. It's almost as if they were piercing holes through me, his gaze was so intense.

"Not that long, I swear." I gave him a sad look. I know I may have hurt him, but I hadn't expected this brash of a reaction from him. The Mason sitting in front of me so was no longer the kind, gentle Mason I knew from Pennsylvania. He completely transformed in front of me, and I did not like it one bit.

He shook his head and rubbed his forehead with his free hand that wasn't holding on to his coffee cup. His next question shocked the hell out of me, and I hadn't expected it at all.

"Do you love him?" His anger seemed to diminish, but the look in his eyes was one that I knew I couldn't stand to see. It killed him to say that, and I felt my own heart break when I realized that I couldn't lie to him anymore. I had to tell him the truth, and I knew he wouldn't want to hear my answer.

"Yes." I whispered. "I do." He kept his eyes focused on mine, and he refused to break the eye contact. I felt my chest tight up, the classic symptom of heartache.

"Of all the people in the world, you were the last one I would expect to hurt me so badly Rose." I saw tears appear in his beautiful blue eyes, yet he continued to fight to keep them in. It's almost as if after all of the time that we were together, he was deciding now that I wasn't worthy of seeing him cry. Because believe me, I had seen him cry plenty of times before.

Mason and I had been through so much together, but I couldn't keep this going any longer. He deserved better, and I knew he would find someone that could give that to him. I wasn't exactly sure what my plan was at this point, but I could honestly say that he was the only reason I would want to return to PA. But now, since he will most likely walk out of my life and never look back, I have no reason to go back.

"You know I would never intentionally hurt you. I didn't expect any of this to happen Mason. Ever since Rick and Denise died…my life has just gotten more and more complicated. So much has happened, and I know you're mad at me. But I could really use a best friend right now." I reached for his hand, and he let me hold it at first until he realized what he was getting himself into, which caused him to quickly pull away.

"I can't Rose. I can't sit here and pretend that this is all okay. You're fucking someone twice your age, you ran away to New York and you're posing naked for strangers. I don't even know who you are anymore." His face was serious and composed. All of the prior sadness was gone, and his tears were all dried up.

"Mason, Dimitri is only twenty-four. And I ran away because I had to. You of all people should understand why I had to do that. I couldn't get transferred to another foster family… I needed to get away. And it was a mistake that those photos got out, a really big mistake. You know I'm not like that. That was a one-time thing… I'm just trying to make a living out here."

Mason again shook his head in a disapproving manner.

"Whatever you say Rose. Can I leave now? I have a plane to catch in two hours."

I couldn't believe he was treating me so coldly. After years of us being together, as friends and as boyfriend and girlfriend, he was just going to leave me like this? I felt my cheeks grow hot, and for the fourth or fifth time today, tears erupted from my eyes.

Even Mason couldn't stand the sight of seeing me crying, he never really could. His face grew sympathetic, and almost soft. He took my hand in his and rubbed it lightly with his thumb.

"I'm sorry okay? I'm just hurt and I want to be friends Rose, but I don't know if I can. Not yet at least. I missed you so much when you were gone and I thought about you everyday. Wondering when you would come home, if you would come home at all. I could barely force myself to eat, and when I tried to sleep, I found myself dreaming of you. I couldn't escape you, and all this time I just thought that this was a temporary thing, only to find out that you're in love with someone else and trying to start a life here. It sucks Rose, it really sucks."

Through my uncontrollable sobs, I managed a slight nod. "I un-understand… I'm just sorry it had to happen this way. I h-h-hope we can be friends one day…" Mason then got out of his chair and walked over to where I was sitting. His arms extended and he pulled me in close to his chest. This caused my sobs to be more violent as I felt my tears sink in and soak his shirt.

"I hope so too Rosie." He kissed the crown of my head and released me from his embrace. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime." He whispered and attempted to give me a small smile.

My crying didn't seize because I knew what was coming. Mason made his way towards the exit of the coffee shop, and turned to look at me one more time before leaving the building. So much emotion was behind his glance, and it pained me to see him go. I wasn't sure if this would be the last time I saw him, but for some reason I felt as if it would be. After he left, my eyes never left the door.

"Goodbye Mase." I whispered to myself, knowing that he couldn't hear me. I then placed my face in my hands, and continued to sob in the middle of the coffee shop.

**Review if you like! xoxo **


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

After an hour or so of crying by myself in the corner of a now deserted coffee shop, I physically ran out of tears. Regardless of how often I replayed the Mason event over in my head, I couldn't force any more emotion out of myself and that is when I knew I ought to leave.

I sulked back towards Dimitri's apartment, dreading the conversation that I was about to have with him. Compared to Mason, he definitely got the better half of the deal, but who's to say that he would take it? For all I know, I could have pissed him off so bad earlier that he would no longer want to have to do anything with me. That thought scared the hell out of me, so I instantly pushed it out of my head.

Trudging my way up all six flights of stairs, I eventually made it to the top. I hesitated for a moment outside of his doorway, preparing myself mentally and emotionally just in case things didn't go the way that I anticipated. For a second I almost considered knocking, but I thought that would be weird seeing as I never bothered to really knock before.

I opened the door a crack and peeked into his empty looking apartment. The studio was dark, as were the rest of the rooms, it seemed. It is very possible that he left and went to calm himself down somewhere. Maybe the gym, or Central Park?

Hastily I let myself in and quietly shut the door behind me. It was late, which also gave me the idea that he might be sleeping. I hope that wasn't the case because I really wanted to get this conversation over with sooner, rather than later.

I slipped off my shoes and left them by the door as I headed towards the back of his apartment. The kitchen was empty, and looked as untouched as it had been before I left. Dimitri's bedroom door was closed and it too had no lights on. I stuck my ear up against the door, hoping to hear the faint sounds of him breathing or moving around. I of course, had no such luck. Opening the door a crack, I glanced in and saw that the bed was perfectly made and the sheets contained no crinkles. I huffed and closed the door, heading towards his living area.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the faintest light shining underneath the doorway of his office. I lightly slapped my hand against my forehead. How could I not think of that place first? His office was always the place he went to when he was trying to cope with something. I tried to be as silent as possible as I neared the doorway. At one point, I was pretty sure I even stopped breathing. I peered in through the tiny sliver of door that was left open. Dimitri sat hunched over his sleek desk writing something down into a notepad. Staring at him for a few brief moments, I took in his presence. How someone 6'7" could look so graceful sitting in a desk that was probably meant for someone my height was beyond me. But he pulled it off quite nicely.

A few stray strands of his chestnut brown hair fell across his face and I watched as he meticulously brushed them aside. I smiled to myself, taking in his beauty. And when I say his beauty, I don't mean in a feminine way. He defined pure, raw masculinity, but he was beautiful. In my opinion, his face should be placed with the past presidents on Mount Rushmore. Or even welcoming new immigrants in New York Harbor instead of that ugly statue of liberty. My thoughts were then interrupted as I heard his smooth voice speaking to me.

"Are you going to stand out there all night or are you actually going to come in and talk to me, Rose?" He didn't bother looking up, but of course he didn't need to. How he knew I was standing there, I will never know. But I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat and stepped into his office.

**Dimitri POV**

The moment someone stepped inside my apartment, I knew it was her. It's almost like I could sense her presence, and was immediately drawn to it. I heard her staking out my apartment, and laughed to myself because she was checking every room in this damn building, except for this one. I wished she would find me already, because I needed to talk to her. More importantly, I needed to apologize.

I listened closely, waiting to hear the soft padding of her feet against my apartment's solid wood floors. She might have thought she was being quiet, but I heard differently. It didn't take her long to find me, and I could tell when she was standing outside of my office door. I had left it open for that exact purpose, waiting until I saw her face appear. It seemed to me like she was holding back, almost as if she was postponing our conversation, so finally I spoke up and invited her in.

Once she stepped into the dim lighting of my office, I could instantly tell that she was crying. I had seen that face before, puffy and red. It took so much of my will power not to run to her and take her into my arms.

She sat down in the seat across from me and set her purse down on the floor next to her. I tilted my head up, and looked at her head on. At first she avoided my gaze, and for a moment I thought she was going to start crying again. I reached out towards her, and offered her my hand with a small smile on my face.

It was almost as if we were reading each other's minds because a second later we both spoke in unison.

"I'm sorry, Roza." -"Dimitri I'm sorry."

We smiled at each other and I released her hand and placed my fingers up against her lips.

"Let me go first, please." She nodded, so I continued with my apology.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I had no right… no right at all to get so angry with you. I was the one who eavesdropped, and it's my fault for not bringing it up sooner…I just—"

She took my fingers in her hands and looked at me with big eyes.

"Nothing is your fault, Dimitri. I shouldn't have said those things to Mason…not when I didn't mean them. I was confused, and hurting. I wasn't really sure what to do and I couldn't bring myself to turn him down on the phone. Not after everything we have been through together."

I wasn't really sure the extent of her past, just as she barely knew mine. It was one of those important relationship discussions that we had never had the opportunity to have because how quickly everything has been happening lately. I knew things with that guy must have been serious, considering he did hunt her down in New York City. But this conversation would have to wait until another time, because as important as it was, we had other things to talk about.

"I was so scared Roza. When I saw him look at you, I just knew. I knew that he was in love with you too. And I couldn't bare the thought of sharing you. I couldn't bare the thought of losing you…" My voice got softer as I started to discuss the fears that I had had earlier. I was never one to admit such feelings to someone, but Rose made me want to open up. She made me want to tell her everything and let her in my heart more than anyone else has ever done.

"You will never lose me. Not now, not ever. I choose you Dimitri. You're the only one that I want to be with. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it." Her voice got choked up and she looked at me with loving eyes.

I swear I could have died right then and there and I would have been the happiest man to ever walk the face of the earth. I had been waiting so long to hear those words come out of her mouth, and they finally had.

Standing up, I leaned over my desk and took her face into my hands. Our eyes met and they held so much love and emotion behind them, it's almost as if I felt her feelings towards me blazing directly into me.

"I love you my Roza."

"I love you more, Dimitri."

I wasn't really sure if her statement was true, but it was obvious that our feelings for each other were undeniably strong, like nothing I've ever felt before so I let it slide. She initiated a kiss, as she too stood up and leaned over the desk towards my face. My lips instantly found hers, and crashed down upon them.

Our gentle kiss soon turned hungry, and our animalistic natures began to take over. With one fluid motion I used my arm to swipe all of the contents off the top of my desk. I heard them crash all around me, but at this moment, Rose had my full attention.

Effortlessly, she climbed onto my desk and stood there on her knees. She was now at a perfect height where our lips could easily meet, without any extra effort from her leaning up or me leaning down. Her hands found my jacket and quickly yanked it down off my shoulders, tossing it into the corner of my office. I returned the favor to her by quickly slipping her shirt over her head and then moved my fingers to the button on her jeans. Without hesitation I managed to unbutton them, and slide the zipper down.

I brushed her hair away from her face, and my lips found their way against her neck. Her breathing was getting heavier, and hearing her panting made me want her even more.

"Dimitri…" She whispered as I felt her fingers grip my hair. This caused my lips to become ferocious, leaving hickies and bite marks after sucking and biting so hard.

"Dimitri…"

Apparently she wasn't saying my name out of pleasure, and only wanted to get my attention because she suddenly pushed me away from her, looking at me with a concerned look on her face.

"I'm still only seventeen." Her eyes grew sad, and I knew she wanted this as bad as I did. I doubted that anyone else in my position could have resisted the puppy dog eyes she was giving me, so I quickly walked over to my office door, slammed it shut and turned the knob so the lock was in place.

Turning away from the door and facing Rose again, I was met by her smiling face. I must have done the right thing, because as soon as I was close enough, she threw me down in my office chair and straddled me.

My lips met with hers once again, followed by our tongues as they twirled together in each other's mouths in sync. She wasted no time in getting my shirt off and her hands explored every square inch of skin on my chest, abdomen and shoulders.

I tugged at her already loosened jeans, signaling how badly I wanted them off. She pulled away from my lips for a brief moment and slid them off, kicking them aside. She sat back down on top of me and her legs wrapped back around my waist. I was more then certain she could feel my very hard manhood pressing against her, waiting to be released from my pants.

After another quick, steamy make-out session, she slid her body down mine and kneeled on the floor in front of me. My head tipped back and my eyes closed, knowing what was about to happen next. Slowly she unbuttoned my jeans and slid the zipper down teasingly.

Even though she has seen my large size a couple times already, she gasped at the sight of the bulge pressing against my boxer briefs. That brought a large grin on my face and I inhaled a sharp breath as I felt the fabric of my underwear being pulled down and my cock spring out.

It wasn't long before my body pulsed with pure adrenaline and pleasure. The way her tongue swirled around my tip and how she alternated her sucking speeds from fast to slow was enough to drive me wild. Sometimes she would hum and the smooth vibrations nearly made my heart stop.

Rose also happened to look beautiful while in the act. I helped hold her dark, silky hair out of her face and she would occasionally look me in the eyes with a smoldering gaze that said more than any words ever could.

She continued to please me, and my body yearned to share that with her. Once she tried to take my full length in her mouth, I pushed her head down and she held me in her throat for as long as she could. I groaned in ecstasy as my hot cum leaked from my tip. Like before she was always willingly took as much as I gave her and I was glad.

Grinning up at me, I brought her back onto my lap and kissed her just as roughly as I had before. Her arms wrapped tightly around my neck, bringing our bodies closer. She lifted herself off my lap and I easily guided my member towards her entrance. I slid myself in very slowly, giving her time to adjust to my size. She was already dripping wet, and feeling her walls consume my cock was enough to make me want to come again.

I watched her lovingly as her face lost its tension and began to relax. Looking down at me with her large, brown eyes she gave me a big smile. Slowly I began to buck my hips up and down, thrusting myself in and out of her at a decent pace. She lifted her weight off of me, and held herself up on the arms of my chair, allowing me to move more quickly and efficiently.

Her hands roamed my entire body and her grip was needy as she clawed and scratched my skin. She arched her back and I watched intently as her eyes began to roll in the back of her head.

"Harder Dimitri…please…" she panted out through her skipped breaths. I instantly obliged as I lifted her off of the chair and set her down on the edge of my desk.

She laid back and pressed her back against the cold wood of my desk. Her legs were spread open in a wide V shape, giving me plenty of room to pound into her, which is exactly what I did. I alternated my pace, constantly leaving her wanting more. Every so often I would slide my length out of her completely and slam it into her again so fast it made her whimper.

She squeezed her tits, desperate to hold onto anything. The sight of her touching herself turned me on even more, but I wasn't about to let myself come without allowing her to do so first.

Lifting one of her legs up and placing it my shoulder gave me easier access to her core. My cock slid in and out of her at a rapid pace, and I leaned towards her and placed a finger on her clit, rubbing against it in quick circles. Her moans became louder and they echoed throughout my office. I continued these movements until I felt her body shake and her walls tighten against me.

Watching her busty chest heave up and down as she struggled to catch her breath put me just over the edge. I once again released myself into her, and began to relax myself.

I pulled out of her and leaned over her, giving her a kiss on her soft lips.

"You…are…amazing…" Her breath was hot against my face, but for some reason I found it pretty damn sexy. I brushed a stray strand of hair away that had fallen across her face.

"As are you, my beautiful Roza."

She grinned at me and I backed up off of her and held out my hand to help her up. She took it and I pulled her off of the desk and into my arms.

"Can we go to bed now? I'm getting kind of sleepy." The tiredness showed on her face, and her mouth opened wide into a yawn.

"You did kind of wear me out." I said behind a smile. That comment earned me a quick jab from her elbow, but even the pain from her blow couldn't ruin my mood. "Let's go to bed." I gestured towards the door as I leaned down and grabbed most of our clothes off the floor.

She unlocked the office door and made her way towards the back of my apartment where my bedroom was located. I watched her go in awe, thinking how lucky I truly am to have found someone so perfect as her.

Just before we were in the entranceway of my room, I dropped our clothes and grabbed at her sides, wrapping my arms around her. I obviously took her off guard as she jumped a little, but relaxed once she was in my embrace. I pressed our bodies together against my door and leaned my face down close to where hers was.

I brought my hands up towards the side of her face, and pressed the tips of my fingers against the nape of her neck as my thumbs rubbed lightly against the skin of her cheek. Her arms wove underneath mine and around to my back, as I lightly puckered out my lips and pressed them against hers.

Our kiss was sensual and intimate as our lips barely brushed one another's. Yet the feelings that were coursing through my body were stronger than ever. After pulling away from her face, I lifted her up and carried her into the bedroom. I let my body fall against my soft mattress and her body fell with mine as she landed directly on top of me. Her face shown of pure happiness, it was radiating off of her in massive amounts.

I gave her my sexiest smirk, and I could have swore I felt her hand drift to my below the belt area. It was just then that I knew that we wouldn't be going to sleep anytime soon.

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><p><strong>I am so so so sorry for taking so long to update! My winter break is ending and I wanted to spend as much time as I could with my friends since the next time I'll be coming home will probably be around March. Plus, I'm still trying to figure out where I want this story to go now. (If you have any suggestions PLEASE private message me.)<strong>

**But I hope this update makes up for my slowness! It's 3,100+ words which is way longer than I usually do them! And a big thank you to all the new reviewers, I appreciate it more than you know!**

**Now that all of that is out of the way, if you're new to reading the story, or old to reading the story… REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! And don't forget; if you have any ideas at all, share them with me please! I'm willing to write about anything, so don't hold back! xoxo**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

My eyes flicked open signaling my body that it was time to wake up. I inhaled a deep breath and stretched out my lower limbs feeling the muscles immediately loosen up as I exhaled.

Rolling over onto my back I felt a soft prickle against one of my shoulder blades. I resisted the urge to jerk away from the tickling feeling when I remembered that it had to have been Rose.

My assumption was proven right as I fixed my gaze to the naked body lying next to me. God she looked so beautiful. Her dark hair was fanned out around her head, completely covering the pillow she rested on. She was still sleeping so her eyes were closed, but her mouth was in a perfect pout, accentuating her luscious pink lips.

Those lips that had the power to make my whole body tremble when she kissed me at just the right location. Those lips that felt cool to the touch of mine yet sent a fire blazing through me. Those lips that had whispered the simple three words any man would have been ecstatic to hear from her last night before we went to bed together.

She must have been exhausted after last night's unexpected events. We had been up late, finding any way that we possibly could to please each other. I however, had more stamina than her petite fragile body even though she managed to keep up with me the entire time. Her body obviously no longer running on energy, but instead it was fueled by adrenaline and pure pleasure.

I smirked happily to myself recalling the memories of last night as I rolled over onto my side in order to get a better view of her sleeping. She looked peaceful and almost angelic. Her naked chest rose and fell with her steady breaths, and it took all of my will power not to reach out and touch her. Not in a lustful way, since we had clearly satisfied our needs last night. I simply wanted to feel her soft skin against my fingertips, or even her silky hair, which now radiated in the morning sunlight as it peeked through the blinds.

After admiring her for I'm not sure how long, I gave in. I wrapped my hand around the bottom of her delicate face, letting my index finger lightly caress her jaw line. My thumb was now in the perfect position to stroke her curvy lips, which I did ever so lightly. I ran the pad of my thumb against her upper lip, feeling the contours of it beneath my fingertip.

Taking me completely by surprise, her eyes shot open and lips turned into a pucker as she laid a light peck against my thumb. Her mouth suddenly opened, and she let my finger fall into the entrance of her mouth. Watching her with curiosity, her teeth lightly bit down on the nail portion of my finger and her lips turned up into a wide grin. After her playful bite, she took my hand from her mouth and laced her fingers into mine.

"Good morning." She said as she stretched her arms out above her head and rolling over onto her side to face me.

I glanced down to see that my bed sheet was now barely draped over her upper body, and she met my obvious gaze, giving me another grin.

"You act like you've never seen them before, Comrade. They must have been in your face and mouth for at least two hours last night."

I let out a hearty chuckle as I considered her point. It was true, but seeing her now in such a different state was still mesmerizing.

"Did you sleep okay?" I asked, wanting to make sure that everything was perfect for her. At this point I was so engrossed in her beauty and with her love that if she had asked me to completely renovate my room, I probably would have done it.

"I slept perfectly. Until someone decided to go and wake me up…" Her voice was playful, with no seriousness at all behind it. Yet I still felt partially bad, since it was out of my own pure selfishness that I woke her up.

We were both dragged out of our sleepy trance as I heard my cell phone go off. Its ringer was a loud, irritating sound, which I set for numbers that were unknown. My friends and clients had a much happier tone, which is how I always distinguished between the two. I unraveled myself from the sheets and pulled myself out of bed. Still naked from last night, Rose took full advantage of the situation and gave my ass a quick tap before I was out of her reach.

I fished through our piles of clothes that were on the floor and finally retrieved my cell phone from the back pocket of my jeans. I answered it with a professional tone of voice, trying to hide the fact that I was still in bed and had just woken up. Greeted by someone who was very foreign, most likely of my same Russian decent. After conversing with the man for a mere five minutes, we hung up.

Setting my cell phone on my nightstand and plopping myself back onto the bed to join Rose; I gave her a big smile.

"Good news." I simply said, not wanting to reveal anything just yet.

"What?" She asked me excitedly, as she shifted her body so she was now leaning against my backboard.

"A photographer in Russia who got a hold of some of your pictures through my friend in Baia thinks you have potential."

"That's all? He thinks I have potential? I KNOW I HAVE POTENTIAL." I laughed at her sudden outburst and simply shook my head.

"No, that's not all Roza. Maybe if you were patient for one second in your life you would have let me finish." That earned me a shy grin as she took my statement into consideration.

"I let you finish plenty of times last night." She playfully ran her fingers along the lines of my chest, and I took her hand in mine and gave her a large smile.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." I laughed under my breath, recalling her last answer. Leave it to Rose to turn a serious situation into some kind of joke relating to sex.

"He said he's sending a few outfits he wants you to be photographed in to see just what kind of a model you could be. Once I send the proofs back to him, he decides what we do next. But it looks good, especially if he's taking the time to send you outfits all the way from Russia."

"So how long until they get here?" I could see the excitement in her eyes; she wanted to do this right away. Unfortunately, since Russia was practically half a world away she would have to wait.

"Probably five to nine days." I cautiously said, not wanting to let her down.

"UGH!" She slid her body down on the bed and grabbed a pillow, which she quickly used to bury her face in.

"Hey…" I said in the softest tone I could manage, as I reached for the pillow to pull it away from her face. She looked at me with her bottom lip puffed out, and a sad look in her eyes. "I know how badly you want this, and it will come. I promise you. It just takes some time, that's all." I threw the pillow towards the end of the bed so she couldn't use it as an escape route again.

"I know, I know. I should be happy I was even given this opportunity. But I just want to prove to everyone that I'm good at something, you know?" Her voice became shaky, and I thought for a second I was going to see her cry.

"You are good at many things Roza. Hell, I could name at least five things you are AMAZING at after what happened last night." She gave me a playful nudge, and as quickly as I thought her tears would come, they vanished.

"I know one thing I suck at, which could actually come in handy right now."

"What's that?" I asked, reaching a hand up so I could stroke her hair.

"Cooking breakfast… I'm starving!" Almost as if her body agreed with her, we both heard her stomach let out a fierce grumble. Together we laughed and continued to lay with each other on the bed for a few more moments as a tangled mess of limbs.

Eventually I was able to pull myself out of bed and over to my dresser where I slipped on a clean pair of boxers.

"Go shower, breakfast will be ready when you get out."

She hopped out of bed, ten times quicker than I did and ran right up to me, giving me a small peck on the cheek.

"Thank you!" She squealed before bounding off towards my bathroom. I shook my head, overcome with happiness as I watched her banter off. My only thoughts as I walked towards the kitchen were 'Damn, I love this girl."

**Rose POV**

He didn't need to tell me twice. The second I heard he would be making breakfast; I did exactly as he told. After spending as much time as I did in this apartment, I now knew where everything was by heart.

After grabbing a towel and washcloth out of the bathroom closet, and turning the water to an appropriate temperature I marched my already naked body right into the shower. I washed my hair with Dimitri's shampoo, my body with his soap and after realizing how masculine they both smelled, I soon made a mental note to go and buy my own toiletries.

The water was warm and comforting to my tired body, but I thought about all the wonderful food that awaited me when I got out, which was enough for me to shut off the shower and dry myself off.

I tousled my hair around until it looked presentable and made my way back into Dimitri's room. Slipping into a clean pair of my underwear and one of his oversized t-shirts, I crossed through his apartment towards the kitchen.

He hadn't heard me come in, so I snuck up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. Compared to mine, his body closely resembled a tree trunk. It was thick in all the right places, and firm to the touch. His strength was incredible, yet he still remained graceful and agile with all of his movements.

His body shivered a bit under my cool touch, since his upper half still remained unclothed. He stood at the stove with a spatula in hand, preparing the last bit of eggs. I felt myself get a teeny bit wet as I watched him cook. He was so manly, yet here he was doing a chore that most women usually did.

"You know… I'm starting to work up an appetite for something else." I purred into his ear as I let my hand linger down towards his junk. I felt his body go stiff as I grasped his length through the fabric.

"Roza," He exhaled and chuckled at the same time, trying to keep his composure. "You need to eat something. We have all the time in the world for this later." He spun around so our chests were nearly touching. Or rather his chest was actually closer to touching my face, but we won't get technical. "Go sit down and I'll bring you some food."

I'm sure if I had fought a little bit harder he wouldn't have been able to resist me. But he was right; I did need food, badly. My stomach was actually starting to hurt a little since I hadn't eaten in so long. I stood on my tippy toes and leaned upwards to give him a kiss.

"You win this time Comrade. But don't think I'll let you off the hook so easily next time." I winked at him and walked over to the island in the middle of the kitchen, pulling myself up onto one of its tall seats.

After a couple minutes Dimitri set down a plate in front of me. The aroma that was filling my nostrils began to make my mouth water. Not only did the food smell good, but it also looked delicious, almost as if it had come out of some sort of fancy cookbook or magazine.

In the middle of the plate were two eggs, sunny side up, which was my favorite way to eat them. My foster parents always tried making them for me as a kid, but none of them ever succeeded. They always made the yolk too hard so it was impossible to dip my toast in. Pushing that memory aside, I took a slice of bacon and bit it in half. It was the maple kind that was salty but had just the right amount of sweet. My throat let out a lofty moan as I let the food slide down my throat.

Dimitri was still fiddling with things in the kitchen, and he immediately turned to look at me as soon as the sound left my lips. Setting a bowl of fruit in front of me, he gave me a large grin.

"Not only can I make you make that sound in the bedroom, but also with my cooking too? Damn I must be talented." He laughed and turned away from me, placing some of the dirty dishes into the sink.

I hadn't realized how much I was enjoying the food until I looked down at my left hand, which was clenched around the napkin he gave me. I tossed the crumbled mess in his direction, which promptly hit him on the back. Glancing over his shoulder, his smile widened.

He soon joined me with his own plate of food. I noticed that he had given himself two extra pieces of toast and a whole lot more bacon and eggs.

"Hey! What gives? I can probably eat as much as you can!" I said, reaching for one of his extra slices of meat and immediately stuffing it into my mouth.

He shook his head in an almost disapproving manner. This was a gesture he often did, almost as if he couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth. I was used to it by now, plus it was almost always followed by a smile. Which was an excellent indicator that told me yes, he thought I was unreasonable at times. But he still loved it nonetheless.

"So do you think I did okay?" He asked as he raised his eyebrows at me and nudged me slightly with his elbow.

"Eh… it was alright. But the last guy I slept with made me French toast AND brought it to me in bed." I stuck my tongue out and gave him a teasing smile, then turned back to my plate.

"I would bring you French toast and serve you breakfast in bed every day if that's what it took to make you happy." He smiled, but I knew the seriousness behind his words. Even after spending such a short amount of time together, he really, truly cared about me. That was a feeling I was used to, because I knew it was a feeling that Mason had had for me too. But with Dimitri, it was different. Mason was essentially still a boy and didn't have as much life experience as Dimitri had. Dimitri was a man, and he had been through enough in his life where he could distinguish things differently than someone who was seven years his junior.

His comment nearly brought out a faint blush in my cheeks, but when I looked away from him I was sure the color had faded. Noticing my reluctance, he brought his hand to my chin and tipped it up so I was looking him straight in the eye.

"What is it, Roza?" His voice was sincere, and his eyes filled with concern for me.

"I just…I don't know." I let out a frustrated sigh, something I often did when I couldn't exactly put my thoughts into words.

Dimitri then turned my chair so it was facing his own, and put his hand gently on my knee. "You can talk to me about anything, you know that right?"

"I know, and that's it…" I looked down and fumbled with my own fingers. "I love you so much, but I feel like it's wrong, because we know each other, but we don't. There's so much I have to tell you, but it never seems like the right time, or the place. And we've been through a lot so we haven't really had time to get to know each other like I would like… and it's just these stupid eggs. They're good but nobody has made them for me since my last foster parent's and I miss them a lot and I'll never get to see them again…" I knew my rambling was becoming ridiculous, but it was another nervous habit of mine so it's not exactly something I could stop. I felt tears well in my eyes, and a few stray drops cascaded down my cheeks.

Dimitri's strong hands being placed on my shoulders interrupted my rampant speech and brought me back to normality. He shook me, only slightly, not enough to do me any damage. "Roza, it's okay." His voice was timid, and soothing. Almost making me completely forget about the rambling spree I had just gone through.

"If you want to talk about those things, then lets do it. I care about you so much, and I want to know everything you are willing to tell me. Just please don't get upset about this. We'll work through everything, I promise." And somehow, I believed him.

He eventually moved our conversation into the living area, and we both sat in front of the fireplace in our underwear for most of the day. We talked about everything and anything that normal people did before they actually fell in love with each other. I told him everything about every foster family that I ever had, for as far back as I could remember. And he told me about his abusive father who often took advantage of his mother and sisters who still lived in Russia to this day. He told me about his journey to the United States when he was only fifteen, and I told him about my journey to New York. We discussed our exes, our friends, the schools we attended growing up, and even the things we wanted to do before we died. We bonded over many similarities, one's that both of us never even knew we had.

By the end of the day, I felt closer to him than I had ever felt towards someone before. I started to feel like I knew him like the back of my own hand, as I carefully took in every experience, memory or feeling he told me about. We laughed and we cried over things from the past, and things we hoped to do in the future.

Before we got up and made our way to the bedroom, I undoubtedly felt like Dimitri was my soul mate. The way we clicked not only mentally but also emotionally today, confirmed that for me. I am 100% certain that I love Dimitri with every fiber of my being and I not only appreciate him as my boyfriend, but now also as my best friend.

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><p><strong>Hi guys! This is kind of just a filler chapter, and even though it only happened in the last part of the chapter, many people thought that Dimitri and Rose had to have 'the talk'. I took everyone's ideas into consideration regarding where I want this story to go next! I'm kind of using a little bit of everyone's ideas and putting them together, but I'm not sure how it will turn out yet. But thank you to everyone who submitted ideas, you really helped get my creative juices flowing! <strong>

**Now that school has started I'm not going to have a specific time frame of when I will be updating next. I kind of just plan on doing it when I'm not busy, like today. So stay tuned and keep being great and reviewing!**

** Speaking of which, I hit 105 reviews last chapter. That is awesome! I never expected to get such amazing feedback, but I'm grateful for every one of you who gave it to me. xoxo**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

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><p><strong>Rose POV<strong>

I wasn't sure if it was just me, or this week was really going by super slow. I swear, the seconds seemed to crawl by and I felt like I was practically stuck in slow motion.

Thankfully, Dimitri was there with me the entire week, providing me with the best company I could ask for. When he wasn't working we managed to spend most of our time together doing things that regular couples did. He took me shopping and I made sure that he approved of every outfit I so willingly tried on for him, and I even suckered him into seeing the 'must-see' chick flick that was currently playing in the movie theaters. Deep down, I knew he didn't mind seeing it, but of course I had to let him seem unhappy so he would appear manlier. I guess it's just a guy thing.

Currently, Dimitri was working in his studio with a family who had just recently given birth to a beautiful baby boy. Since they had photos taken by Dimitri when they were pregnant, they figured it would only be right to do a family portrait once the baby had actually arrived. I wasn't quite sure what his name was, but I watched the happy couple from afar.

They seemed so in tune and in sync with each other that I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away. Every move he made, she mirrored him perfectly and was obviously always aware of his location. But the way they were with each other didn't even come close to how they acted with the baby. Even though he was only a few days old, you could already see how in love they were with that little bundle of cuteness. Their eyes sparkled, and their faces absolutely glowed when Dimitri made small talk to them about him. And surprisingly, they even let Dimitri hold the infant once they were done shooting.

When they placed the newborn into his arms, I was in awe. His arms wrapped around the baby's delicate frame and despite Dimitri's size, he seemed to fit perfectly right in the crook of his forearm. Leaning his face closer to the baby's I could hear him make soft cooing noises as he slowly rocked the baby back and forth.

Now, I was in no way, shape or form ready to be a mother but just seeing how good Dimitri was with the baby made my heart melt. Not only that, but I wanted to rip off his clothes and make a baby right there on the studio floor.

I pushed the silly thought from my head just in time for Dimitri to return the baby to his mother and look over to where I was standing and notice my presence.

"Rose! Come here." Dimitri said in a hushed voice, trying not to alarm the baby.

I shyly made my way into the studio and took my place next to Dimitri, giving the couple a small smile.

"Beth, Mark, and of course baby Jason," he said as he brushed the tiny wisps of hair across the baby's head "this is my err…friend Rose." I knew Dimitri had wanted to call me his girlfriend, but considering the fact that I was still seventeen he didn't want to draw any more unwanted attention towards our relationship and I accepted that.

"Hi." I said, holding my hand out to the husband so he could shake it, and simply nodding my head in acknowledgement towards the mother since she clearly had her hands fully with Jason. "It's nice to meet you both. You have a very beautiful baby."

I didn't think it was possible, but the mother's face lit up even more, and she gave me a big smile. "Thank you SO much. We're so lucky. He's our little miracle." She replied as she leaned down and laid a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Would you like to hold him?"

Immediately I shook my head, not trusting myself enough with something so fragile. "Thanks, but that's okay." I said not wanting to be rude. Honestly, you would think that growing up in houses that constantly had different aged children running around them that I would be used to babies. But I had never been around one that was this small, or this young. Truthfully, it frightened me. My mind kept insisting that he would shatter the moment he was laid into my arms, so I decided not to risk it.

The couple didn't seem to mind at all, which I was grateful for. I think they were once again too wrapped up in their own little family that she probably wouldn't have given him to me anyways and only offered to be nice.

After we said our goodbyes and walked them both to the door, we were greeted by the friendly face of a man in a uniform.

Lucky for us, he wasn't in a police uniform. Instead, he was in a brown delivery boy uniform and he also happened to be carrying quite a large box. I nearly squealed with delight, hoping and praying that this box was actually intended for me.

Once Dimitri went through the formalities of signing for the box, he brought it inside and shut the door. I attempted to snatch it from his hands, but resisting, he pulled away.

"It has MY name on it, Roza." He grinned, knowing that he was purposely driving me crazy.

"Oh COME ON. You know it's for me! Look! It's post marked from Russia! Gimme, gimme, gimme!" I nearly jumped up and down right in front of him, and he let out a soft chuckle that told me he was clearly enjoying seeing me suffer.

Setting the package down onto the wood floor of the studio, I instantly attacked it. I was on my knees in front of it and my fingers yanked and pulled on the tape, trying to reveal the box's contents.

"I feel like I'm watching a child on Christmas morning." Dimitri said jokingly as he sat down across from me.

"You don't understand! Getting a box of new clothes is practically like Christmas morning!"

My feeble attempts to get the box open soon weren't working so well. I'm not sure what kind of tape this was, but it was clearly a kind not found in America. This shit was impossible to rip off.

I let out a loud frustrated sigh, and began to punch in the top of the box. Watching Dimitri out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shake his head.

"Let me see it." Without waiting for a reply Dimitri took the box from my hands and reached into his jean pocket and produced a medium sized pocketknife. The blade was long, sleek and apparently very sharp. It cut through the tape like it was butter, and when DImitri was done he slid the blade back down and it returned to the safety of his pocket.

"I didn't know you had a knife." I said curiously as he slid the box back in my direction.

"I would hardly call this a knife. It's merely a tool to use when I have trouble opening boxes of film or large envelopes filled with pictures."

"So you wouldn't like stab anybody with it?"

"Why on Earth would I want to stop anyone? Especially with a knife with a four inch blade. I don't think it would work that efficiently." He tapped on the side of the box with a few fingers, which signaled the end of our conversation about knives and brought me back into my earlier craze.

I tore open the lid of the box and peered in. It was almost completely filled with clothing of all types of materials and colors. I let my fingers graze against the fabrics, admiring each visible piece very carefully.

"So what did he send you?" Dimitri asked with a inquisitive look upon his face. He made no attempt to peek in the box and see for himself. I smiled to myself, realizing that he did this out of respect, since it was my box and he certainly wasn't going to ruin this moment for me.

The first article I pulled out was a short white dress. It had relatively thin, almost halter straps, with a pretty revealing neckline and flowly ruffles all down the front of it. I held it up for Dimitri to see, and he nodded his head in an approving manner.

As I reached in for the next article of clothing, I pulled out a slip of paper instead. It was a scribbled note, with writing I could barely make out. Clearly this guy was not American.

_Rose,_

_These are just a few of the many outfits I will provide for you if you meet my modeling standards. Each outfit represents a different type of modeling I had in mind for you. I trust that Dimitri will take excellent photos of you in each of these outfits and send them back to me ASAP. We have no time to lose. Enjoy._

_ Ivan_

I wasn't quite sure how to react to the note. This guy seemed kind of arrogant, yet he also hinted at the fact that he indeed wanted me to model for him even though he hasn't seen my pictures yet. The butterflies I already had in my stomach were now moving a million times faster and I anxiously picked up the next clothing item from the box.

Immediately I saw Dimitri's eyes grow large, and I was quite sure mine did the same. This item of clothing wasn't exactly that much of a clothing item at all. It was a lingerie outfit with the works. The bra and the thong were a plain, sheer black but it also came with a cheetah print garter belt and bra covering along with a pair of black, knee high stockings.

"What do I look like? Some kind of Playboy bunny?" Dimitri waggled his eyes at my comment, which made my fierce façade fall and caused me to giggle.

"That might be my favorite outfit so far." He said as a large smirk crept across his face.

"You've only seen two Comrade. Keep your dick in your pants." I said playfully, returning his smile.

My eyes returned to the lingerie set and I grew goose bumps as I thought of some creepy old Russian guy taking pictures of me in it. I shook my head in attempt to get that image out of my head and pulled out the next outfit. It was a simple wife beater tank top with some sort of logo printed on the front in pink lettering. Attached to it was a teeny pair of black boy short underwear that I knew would hardly cover my ass as well as a pair of cute black pumps. The shoes were about the only part of that outfit I liked, but I set it aside with the others.

Finally, I reached my hand in to the almost empty box and pulled out the last item. It was a cream colored dress that almost appeared to be vintage. It had flowy sleeves and a light tan belt around the middle. I was usually the type of girl who liked things that were new and modern, but I had to admit, it was kind of cute.

I put all of my new clothing items back into the box carefully, and closed it up. Dimitri somehow managed to stand up slightly quicker than I did and held out a helping hand. I graciously took it as he promptly pulled me onto my feet.

"So what do you think?" I asked while wrapping my arms loosely around his body.

"I think we should go take some practice shots of you in that cheetah outfit… while in bed." He said coolly, while leaning his head down to be closer to mine.

"Why Mr. Belikov, are you suggesting we make a porno?" I said in a mocking tone as I gazed up into his wonderful brown eyes.

"I guess you'll just have to find out!" He shouted as he pulled me in close to him, and poked his fingers into my sides. I started to giggle uncontrollably as his fingers prod my most ticklish spots. The next thing I know, he swept me off my feet and carried me into his bedroom for what I expected would be another sleepless night.

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><p><strong>Don't hate me everyone! I tried updating sooner, but being a science major in a competitive university is not an easy thing to do, trust me! Plus I know this isn't that good of a chapter, but the next one will be loads better I promise! I MIGHT just even try updating tomorrow, but it depends. So don't get your hopes up k? I'll do my best though, because I completely understand how frustrating it is to have a writer take so long to update. I myself cannot stand when a good story I'm reading is only updated once or twice every few weeks… it drives me nuts! So hang in there for me and keep reading and being the wonderful reviewers that you already are! xoxoxox<strong>


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

Much to my surprise, I woke up pretty early. Before Rose came into my life my schedule usually had me waking up a little bit before sunrise and going to bed way after nightfall. Needless to say, my internal clock had quite an unusual way of working.

After being up pretty late with Rose, I wasn't surprised to see her in such a deep sleep still. As much as I wanted nothing more than to lay in bed with her all day, I knew I had some things to take care of.

I made my way out into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee, enough for Rose and myself. Lazily I scratched at my head as I stared sleepily into the brightness of the living area. I must have forgotten to shut the blinds last night and the sun poured through my large window. Reaching my arms above my head, I gripped my left wrist and felt the tension leave my muscles. I stifled out a large, deep yawn and made my way towards the large cardboard box that still occupied a space in the middle of my floor.

Opening the folded edges, I revealed the outfits Rose and I had went through last night. I hadn't put much thought into the photo shoots last night since Rose created quite a distraction. I lifted out the lingerie and smirked to myself thinking how nicely Rose's curvy physique would fill it out. As I stared at the other outfits in the box, I made up my mind that we would have the photo shoot outside today. I glanced towards the window again, and admired the clear sky. Today's weather already looked ideal, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I called my friend Jillian, who was in charge of doing my client's hair and make up when requested and went over a few ideas with her. I described in detail the outfits that Ivan had provided Rose with, and what my expectations were for each one. I knew that for the most part, Rose wouldn't need help with hair and make up. She had proven that to me quite a few times already. However, for one outfit in particular I had a vision set in stone, and I wanted to make sure everything was perfect. After all, if Ivan hired her it would not only look good for her, but for me too.

We got off the phone a little while later, just as I had finished up my first cup of coffee. I was already excited for the day and couldn't wait to make my visions become reality later on. Making my way back into my bedroom, I quietly rummaged through my drawers and pulled out a clean pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt. Slipping my wallet into my pocket and grabbing my phone off the nightstand, I glanced back at Rose to make sure she didn't stir. Thankfully, she was still in her coma-like sleep and I left my apartment without hesitation.

My first stop was a locksmith located exactly 15 blocks away. As much as I would have enjoyed the walk, I wanted to make sure I was back at my apartment before Rose woke up. I didn't leave her a note and she still had no phone of her own to call me, so I didn't want to cause her to panic. Besides, it was still too early for the traffic to be heavy so I took a cab.

After reaching our destination, I tipped the driver and made my way out of the bright yellow vehicle. The locksmith was on the corner in a rustic looking brick building. I hadn't realized how far out of the city we had come, and it appeared to me that I was probably in Old Brooklyn. I hadn't been over here in quite sometime, so I stood outside, marveling at some of the older buildings before I went into the locksmith's shop. It was crazy to see how much things change in this city, by simply driving a mere 15 blocks away from the center of New York.

When I walked in, I was greeted by a smiling face of an older gentleman who looked roughly in his seventies. As nice as the old man seemed, I wasn't sure if I could trust him to do the job I needed him to, but I approached him anyway. To my surprise, when I told him I needed every lock changed in my apartment and studio he called someone out from the back. This man, who I'm assuming was the older man's son, since their faces had many similarities, told me he could leave and come fix my problem right away. I thanked him for the offer, but my thoughts shifted to Rose so I told him it might be better if he came over later. He had no problem with the time delay and estimated his arrival sometime in the late afternoon. I had no problem trusting the pair, since they actually seemed like honest and genuine people, so I paid them both upfront for their services and said my goodbyes.

I soon flagged down another taxi, quicker than I had earlier and set off towards the other side of town. I had my driver drop me off a few blocks from my apartment at a small fruit stand located in a nearby alleyway. For as long as I have lived in New York, I have never gotten my produce from anywhere else. They always had the freshest supply of fruit, and I have never met such friendlier women in my life.

Since they too were foreigners from someplace other than America, we clicked the first time I went there. Most of the time, it was ran by three women, two of which were approximately my mother's age and the other one about the age of my grandma. I respected all of them equally, and prided them for doing what they did in order to make a living. And of course, to make it easier on them, I told everyone I knew to buy their produce from there, giving it the highest praises.

Each of the three women were happy to see me, and promptly dropped what they were doing to come over and hug me.

"Where have you been my boy? We thought something had happened to you!" The lady known as Oksana said.

I shook my head and gave them all a brief smile. "I met a girl… and she's been quite the handful." I said as I mustered out a laugh.

All three of their faces lit up in excitement, and I could see the questions already forming in their mind.

"Who is she Dimka?" exclaimed Alberta. "What is she like?" I chuckled at their curiosity, hesitating before giving them my answer.

"I'll bring her by sometime, I promise. I don't have time to talk today, I have to get back to my apartment before she wakes up."

"Oooo she sleeps over?" Tatiana, the oldest of the three mumbled. "It must be serious then."

I gave them all a huge grin as I took into account how much they reminded me of the women in my family. Maybe that was why we got along so well? I haven't seen my family in quite a number of years, so these women were the closest things I had.

"Another conversation for a later date, ladies. But now, I need some of the best fruit you have. I'm going to prepare her a fruit salad for breakfast."

"AND he cooks for her!" shouted Alberta, drawing some attention from the people walking down the street.

"You be quiet now Alberta, the young man says he has things to do. Now get him some damn fruit and let him be on his way!" scolded Tatiana.

Alberta shut up immediately, and made her way over to the fruit cart. She opened up a large paper bag and began to fill it with all sorts of fruits. She usually had a good idea about what I liked and didn't like, so I trusted her judgment.

After she filled the bag to the brim, she handed it to me with a delighted smile. Oksana then approached me with a large bouquet of flowers. It contained large pink lilies, mixed with a few yellow and pink tulips. The arrangement looked beautiful together, and I hugged her again to show my thanks. I pulled out a $100 bill, and placed it in her delicate hand.

"I can't take this Dimka!" She exclaimed and shoved the bill back towards me.

I shook my head, and grabbed her hand and folded her fingers around it. "Yes you can, and you will." I stated calmly as I turned away from the group and waved goodbye.

My apartment was only about three blocks away, so I decided to walk this time. There was already a significant number of people on the street so I had to take extra care to make sure the flowers remained unscathed and my fruit bag didn't knock anyone out.

Eventually I made it back to the apartment, and took the elevator to my floor. I silently let myself in, trying not to make too much noise. I slipped off my shoes and set the fruit and my keys on the kitchen counter.

Making my way back to my bedroom, I peered in the cracked door to find Rose peacefully sleeping in the same position as she was before. The door made a tiny creak as I slid it open wide enough for my large frame to fit, and tip toed inside. I stared down at her heavenly figure and smiled to myself. Even in her sleep, her beauty was remarkable. Sometimes I didn't even think she realized just how beautiful she really is.

I set the bouquet on the pillow next to her and crept back towards the door. It was already a little after ten, so I didn't really expect her to sleep much longer.

My apartment was silent aside from the patter my bare feet made against the cold wood floor. I walked back into the kitchen and unloaded the contents of my fruit bag onto the counter.

Alberta had certainly hooked me up, giving me enough fruit to probably last me a good month. Unfortunately, fruit never actually stays fresh for that long so I knew I'd be forced to cut it all up and eat it soon anyway.

Pulling out my cutting board and a large knife out of the block, I began to cut up a few apples. I put all the pieces into a large bowl, and then proceeded with the rest of the fruit. After adding the cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, grapes and blueberries I tossed it all around so it was evenly mixed.

I smiled down at my creation, and popped a blueberry into my mouth, enjoying it as it's sweet juice spread across my tongue.

"You're not considering eating all that by yourself are you?" I heard a soft voice say, as I turned around to find Roza staring at me. She held the flowers close to her face, almost as if she was trying to talk and inhale their smell all at the same time.

"Of course not." I said as I smiled and jerked my head to the side, gesturing for her to join me in the kitchen.

She leaned up and gave me a kiss on the cheek before standing in front of the fruit bowl. Setting the flowers down on the counter, she plucked up a chunk of kiwi and stuffed it into her mouth.

I quickly grasped her underneath her arms, and lifted her onto the clear counter space.

"That's all I get is a kiss on the cheek for making you breakfast?" I said in a sarcastic tone, giving her a fake mean glare.

She giggled and pulled me in close to her by the collar of my t-shirt.

"I guess you deserve a little more than that." She said in a soft, seductive tone and then brushed her lips lightly against mine.

"That's better." I said, picking up a strawberry and sliding it into my mouth.

"So, what's on the agenda for today, Comrade?" She said as she swung her legs in the air, lightly tapping them against the cabinets below.

"Not a thing." I said, trying to devoid my voice of all emotion, on purpose of course.

"WHAT? We are supposed to do my photo shoot today!" She screeched and her cheeks instantly turned a bright pink.

I couldn't help but laugh at her impulsiveness. Did she really think I would forget all about that?

"Why is this funny…?" She said, confusion apparent in her voice.

"Because I was kidding. And you just look so damn cute when you get angry."

She shoved my shoulder and gave me a menacing glare.

"You are something else Dimitri Belikov. You know, if you weren't so hot I probably would have punched you by now. But I really don't want to ruin that pretty face of yours."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment Roza." I said ornery. "But seriously, we're doing your shoots today. Don't get your panties in a bunch."

"Oh but you see… I'm not wearing any." She laughed as she jokingly pushed up the bottom of my shirt. Not high for me to get a good look or anything, but high enough to show me that she indeed was not wearing underwear.

"Do you realize you're sitting on my counter top… the one I eat off of." I groaned.

"Don't even get me started Dimitri… it's too early for that." She said in a stern, yet mocking tone. "I'm going to take a shower and get ready for the day. Try not to miss me too much." She slid off the counter and laid another light kiss near my earlobe.

An hour and a half later after I finished cleaning up the kitchen, putting everything away and packing up my photography gear, I sat in my office waiting for Rose to finish getting ready. Eventually she came out, wearing the first outfit she pulled out of the box yesterday. The dress was short enough to almost be a shirt, but her legs seemed to go on for miles in it, so I didn't mind. It hugged her body in all the right places, and accentuated her cleavage just right. She had straightened her hair, so it flowed down way past the middle of her back. In her hair was a small, white flower that contrasted well with the darkness of her hair, and on her wrist was a small diamond bracelet. She looked absolutely celestial almost like an angel that flew down to earth.

"How do I look?" She said with a smile upon her face, as she spun around in a slow circle.

"Absolutely breathtaking. If Ivan doesn't way to photograph you after getting these shots, he's either blind or likes men."

She giggled and continued to stand in the doorway.

"So are we gonna go or what?" She attempted to raise an eyebrow, and I couldn't help but laugh when she failed.

"Yes Roza. Make sure you have your other outfits, we won't be coming back here until we're done."

"We're not shooting here?" She asked, with a slightly questioning look on her face.

"Nope. Everything's going to be outside today. Is that alright?"

"Of course. I just didn't know what the plans were, Comrade. Maybe you could try filling me in next time."

"I'll try to remember that next time." I said, giving her a big smirk as I stood up and met her at the door.

She grabbed my hand and laced her fingers with mine as we walked down the stairs toward the entrance. Holding hands with her felt so natural, and so right. It was a shame that we were going to have to let go once we got out in public. However, we enjoyed the little time we were actually allowed to touch each other and said nothing when we broke free. My only thought when her eyes looked up at me sadly after I pulled away, was 'Damn I can't wait until she's eighteen.'

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><p><strong>Boring chapter again… I know I suck. I was going to put all the photo shoots and stuff in this chapter but I was already at 2,700+ words. And I know that there is going to be a lemon in the future, so I wanted to give myself enough time to write that.<strong>

**I'll probably start that chapter tonight. And if possible, I'll finish it sometime this weekend. If not, then DEFINITELY Monday. After I get all my homework done of course.**

**Bear with me a little bit more guys, there is good stuff coming…I swear! xoxo**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

It broke my heart to upset her, but at this point in our lives, she knew how things had to be. Thankfully her birthday is right around the corner, and between the both of us, I'm not too sure who is more excited that she will finally be considered an adult in the eyes of the law. My hand released hers, but we still walked incredibly close to each other.

"So where are we headed first?" Rose finally broke the silence between us, and looked up at me with a hopeful smile.

"You'll see." I said, as I ushered her through a crowd of people.

"You know I hate surprises." She said, sounding frustrated as a guy in a business suit shuffled quickly past her, knocking her bag off of her shoulder. It took a lot of will power for me to ignore the fact that he didn't even bother to apologize to Rose, so I continued to stare straight ahead. The anger soon subsided as the location where our first photo shoot was going to take place came into sight.

Grabbing Rose gently by the arm, I weaved us through traffic and across the street. She must have guessed our location, because her eyes lit up.

It was an outside floral shop, right on the edge of Madison Avenue. The entire street was flooded with the scents of dozens of varieties of flowers, and it almost made it impossible to catch your breath. Lilies, tulips, roses, daisies, orchids and sunflowers were scattered in rows and wrapped around the columns of the structure. All kinds of flowers were intricately placed in various places that were now surrounding us.

"This place is beautiful." Rose said, admiring the scenery. I gazed down at her, and watched her as she took it all in.

I remember the first time I came across this shop. It's the only one like it in New York, which makes people flock from all over to come and see the sight for themselves. I came across this shop when I first came to the city and was still trying to get a feel for the place. I swear I could have smelled the fragrances of the flowers from at least a mile away, and I followed my nose until I ended it up here. Everyday after that, I made a point to try to walk by this place as much as possible. I have loved it ever since.

And after seeing the white dress Ivan chose for Rose, I couldn't think of a more perfect place to take pictures of her. All the different colors and varieties that surrounded us would make for a perfect backdrop. The color of the dress would insanely contrast the brilliant hues of the flowers, making Rose stand out. And that of course, is the entire point. To show Ivan how in a picture filled with beautiful things, Rose is the first thing that will always catch your eye.

I pulled my camera out of its case and assembled all the pieces. "You can start at anytime Roza." I said as I took a couple of practice shots.

"Right here? In front of ALL of this?" Her eyes got wide and she gestured around us.

"Never thought I'd see the day when Rose Hathaway was intimidated by a garden." I chuckled to myself and aimed the lens directly at her, and took a candid.

"I meant the people you ass. Not the flowers."

"Well the answer is yes Rose. This is something you're going to have to get used to, especially if you want to work in a big city. Crowds of people aren't really something you can escape, and you never know where your photographer is going to want to shoot you."

She mumbled something under her breath before taking a look at her surroundings, envisioning a few poses. After assessing her positioning, she leaned against a light post that was covered in ivy. One of her arms went above her head, and the other framed her face. I snapped a few shots. She wrapped herself in the flowers enclosed her, walking up and down the isles, finding her favorite ones to be shot in front of. She used flowers as props, she put some in hair, and she would toss petals up in the air. I continued to take the pictures.

After about a half an hour, I told her to get in a few more good shots, which of course she did almost effortlessly. Modeling was something that came so naturally to her, which made it easier on me since I really didn't have to do much coaching.

We wrapped things up at the flower shop and then I hailed down a taxi so we could catch a ride across town. It wasn't long before we ended up in my friend Jillian's apartment. Before we walked in, Rose looked at me more confused than ever.

"Why are we here?"

"My friend is going to help do your hair for the next shoot?"

"Why? I thought my hair looked fine…" She sounded hurt in a way, which was not my intention at all.

I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"Your hair always looks beautiful. But I have an idea for the next shoot, and she's helping us with that."

That was all that I could say before Jillian opened the door, she obviously must have heard us approaching.

"Hey, come on in guys." Jillian said with a warm smile. She was a plain looking girl, but only by choice. She often wore her hair straight, and barely put on any make up. You would never know the things that she is capable of once she's working though.

"Thanks for helping us," I said, walking through the threshold of her apartment. "This is Rose. Rose, this is Jillian."

"You can call me Jill," she replied, sticking out her hand to shake Rose's. "Dimitri insists on calling me by my full name because apparently he thinks it's more professional."

Both girls laughed in unison as Jillian lead us towards the back of the building. She has an entire room that she dedicates to her work. There is a salon chair in the middle; complete with every tool you could possibly imagine to do hair with. And beside it is a large white vanity, with a massive mirror and the desk part is scattered with all kinds of make up products.

"I've been practicing on a few mannequins, and I finally think I have the style down perfectly. I adjusted it a tiny bit to make it more modern, but you can tell me if you don't like it."

"I'm sure it will be fine Jillian. Let's see what you got."

Jillian ushered Rose into the seat and pumped it up a few times until she was at an ideal height.

"What exactly are you doing to me? I'm kind of feeling like a lab rat here…" Rose eyed both of us up in the mirror, looking a little wary.

I didn't want to show her yet, but I decided to anyway. I yanked my wallet from the back pocket of my jeans and scanned the plastic sheets until I found the picture I was looking for. Carefully removing it from its place, I put my wallet back away and stared at the picture for a moment longer. It always managed to make me smile, which is why I carried it with me everywhere.

I gave the picture to Rose, and she stared at it curiously for a moment.

"She's beautiful… but who is she?" Since Jillian was now sectioning off layers of Rose's hair, she couldn't turn to look at me so she stared into the mirror instead.

"She's my mother." I said proudly, as I walked over to stand on Rose's other side. I looked down once again at the picture as Rose held it in her hands. "It was taken about five years before my eldest sister was born. My mom and her sister used to be big on photography, right when good cameras started to come out. They took pictures of each other constantly. But this one," I said, pointing down at the picture. "its my favorite."

"I can understand why." Rose mumbled as she gaped at the photo. "She was stunning. I finally see where you get your good looks from." I heard Rose catch her breath as she realized exactly what she was saying, and who she was saying it in front of.

"It's okay Roza. Jillian knows." I saw her shoulders relaxed, which made me relax a little too. "I had to tell her, she always knows when I'm lying." I saw Jillian nod out of the corner of my eye and smiled.

"It's not exactly that hard…" Rose joked, and the girls were laughing together again. I was happy that they got along, to be honest, I wasn't sure they would. Rose has a much more outgoing personality compared to Jillian's reserved one. And sometimes I've noticed that those characteristics seem to clash, but apparently that didn't apply to these two.

"Anyway," I cleared my throat. "As I was saying. I took this picture of my mother before I left home, so I could always remember her. And when I saw that cream colored dress Ivan wanted you to wear, it reminded me so much of this photograph. And I thought there was no better way to pay a tribute to my mother than to recreate it."

Rose's face lit up in a smile, and I was grateful. I had no doubt in my mind that she would do this for me, especially if she knew how important it was.

"You don't think I'm going to look weird with these bangs and stuff, do you?" She looked worried, even though I knew she had nothing to worry about.

"You could shave your head and you would still look perfect. So no, the bangs will not make you look weird." Rose gave me a thankful smile, and turned her attention back to the photograph.

Less than an hour later, Rose's hair and make up was finally done. Jillian had given her tight, yet flowy curls and short bangs that swept across her forehead. The top of her hair was teased, in a way that made it look bigger. Which was obviously the style back when my mom was younger. Jillian helped Rose into the dress, and gave her some bracelets and a necklace to complete the outfit. She covered her lips in a deep red color, that made them pop against her tanned skin.

My mom was barefoot in the photograph, but for the time being Rose had put shoes on since we would be going outside.

We drove a good ways out of the city, until we hit an area that seemed to have more nature. Luckily, Jillian had a car so we didn't have to pay for a taxi. Once we reached an isolated strip of land we all piled out of the car.

I observed the land, and then the photograph, trying my best to find the location that would be perfect for the shot. It took a little bit of hunting until we found the perfect secluded spot.

Rose studied the photograph once I gave it to her again, and tried to match my mom's stance. I loved how much she was willing to get into this, just because she knew it made me happy.

The first few frames were practice for both Rose and I. She wanted to perfect the pose my mother made, and I wanted to perfect the lightning and the angles at which the photograph was taken.

It didn't take us long before we had it. Rose stood eloquently on a long tree that had most likely fallen down quite sometime ago. She had one knee straight, and the other relaxed, pressing her bare toes into the rotted bark. Her right hand weaved delicately into her hair, as she played with a few strands and the other rested casually on her leg, letting her fingers sprawl over it neatly.

I couldn't help but notice how similar Rose and my mother looked. They both had dark features that suited them perfectly. Rose's hair was a few shades darker than my mother's, but their eyes were both a cool shade of brown. Rose was also a little bit curvier than my mother, but the dress that Ivan had chosen for her barely showed off any of her curves. The dress itself had a few noticeable differences, but of course it would. This dress was probably made last week, and my mom's dress would be well over thirty years old. All in all though, the pictures looked practically identical.

At that moment, I wanted to hug Jillian for doing such an amazing job on Rose's hair and make up. Without it, I was sure the pictures wouldn't have come out so good.

"That's a wrap." I said, lowering the camera from my face.

"Thank God," Rose spat out. "I was starting to feel like a hippie." She laughed, and I couldn't help but laugh with her. "I can't wait to see how the pictures came out though." She gave me a reassuring smile, and placed her hand on my arm.

"They look great… you look great." I said, gazing at her in awe. "Thanks a lot, Jillian. This really meant a lot to me."

She gave me a genuine smile and nodded her head. I think I expressed my gratitude enough when we were on the phone earlier. And that was even before she pampered Rose.

We all got back into the car and headed back towards the city. As beautiful as the land was out there, I miss the busy streets and the bustling of people everywhere. After living in a place like New York, I don't think it's possible to want to live anywhere else.

Jillian drove us back to her apartment where she let Rose fix her hair and adjust her make up. We had two more outfits to shoot Rose in, however I was planning on doing them at the same location. It didn't take Rose long, but unfortunately she had to keep the vintage looking dress on, because her next two outfits weren't exactly appropriate to be wandering the streets of New York in.

We took another cab to the business district of New York, and the driver dropped us off in front of an empty building. This place was still being built on the inside, so no one was technically working in it yet. Even though this wasn't the exact location I was planning to shoot her in anyway. The building that I was going to shoot Rose in, was the parking garage that was adjacent to the offices that we now stood in front of.

I led her up five flights of stairs, and I was grateful when we reached the top that there were no cars in sight. The parking garage was completely deserted, which gave it an almost creepy feel.

"Here we are. You better get dressed." I said, eyeing her up.

"You expect me to get naked, on the top of a parking garage?" She scrunched her forehead and gave me a hard look.

"It's not like anyone can see you." I replied coolly.

"That's besides the point. Why are we up here, anyway?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

She let out a frustrated sigh and walked over to the far corner where she apparently didn't think I could see her. I could, but I turned the other direction and pretended to play with a few knobs on the top of my camera.

A few minutes later I heard the clicking of high heels against the concrete become louder and louder. I turned in the direction of the sound and I swear I felt my heart stop. Rose was walking towards me dressed in the white wife-beater tank top and the small, black boy short underwear with the tall black pumps on her feet. Her body looked amazing, and I quickly ran my tongue against my bottom lip to make sure I wasn't drooling.

"See something you like?" She asked in the sexiest voice possible.

"I see everything that I like." I smirked and held my hand out. She came closer and placed her hand in mine. I quickly pulled her in close to me and wrapped my arms around her waist, resting them on her butt, which was almost fully exposed.

"One day I'm thinking that I should get to photograph you half naked…" she whispered as she played with the collar of my shirt.

"What would be the fun in that? I wouldn't look nearly as good as you do in that outfit." She let out a loud laugh, and a big smile came across her face.

"You just gave me the best mental image ever." I smiled at her and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Good, now keep this attitude up and give me some good pictures. You wanna impress Ivan? Then just keep doing what you're doing. Your pictures are coming out awesome."

"You really think so?" She asked shyly. I had forgotten how little she was complimented back when she lived with her foster families. She was always convinced that she never did anything right.

"I know so." I smiled and kissed her on the tip of her nose. A tiny bit of color flooded to her cheeks and I tapped her butt in order to get her moving.

I positioned her in one of the far corners of the parking garage near the giant block of concrete that showed the level of which we were on. It's sign was large in tan-ish, yellow paint that stated level five.

Like always, Rose needed no coaching from me. She stood in front of the block with her legs spread slightly apart, which when paired with the high heels, made them look at least a foot longer. So instead of her usual five foot six height, she appeared to be around five seven or even five eight. I made sure to get the city landscape in the back ground of the picture, but like before, I assured that Rose was the center of attention.

She continued for quite sometime with poses like these, but it wasn't until the last ten frames that I thought she was really getting into it. This time she stood with her back towards me, and her body positioned perfectly so her ass was directly in front of me. She parted her lips slightly, and crossed one leg over the other, accentuating her curvy backside even more.

If I didn't have a boner by now, I was expecting to get one soon. I have never in my life seen a girl pull off boy shorts like she does. She must have known she was teasing me, because I saw an evil sparkle in her eye when I let the camera fall away from my face.

"You should get changed into your last outfit now. We are losing daylight here." I said as I focused my attention towards the sky. Clouds were now beginning to roll in, even though the sky maintained most of its blue color.

"I'll be back in a minute." Was all she said, and then she was off to change into what I knew would be my favorite outfit of the night.

It took her a little bit longer to get changed into this outfit, I was guessing because there was more to it. I remember there being stockings and stuff like that in the box, so I attributed that as to why she was taking so long. For a second I thought she might need my help, until she began to make her way across the parking lot.

If I thought she looked good before, I had another thing coming.

* * *

><p><strong>So I went on a writing spree last night, hopefully you guys don't mind. I've started next chapter already, but I'm not sure exactly when it will be finished! <strong>

**Rose's first three outfits are on my profile if you want to get a better look at them, since for some reason I find it immensely difficult to describe them sometimes haha. **

**Reviews would be awesome! xoxo**


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